Former cricketer Yograj Singh, the father of 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh, has blamed wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni for India’s semi-final loss to New Zealand at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on Wednesday.
While chasing 240 to win, Dhoni scored a gritty half-century against New Zealand as the Men in Blue fell 18-runs short of the target. After India lost their top six batsmen on just 92, Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja (77) added 116 runs for the seventh wicket to bring India back into the game. However, Dhoni’s efforts did not impress Yograj Singh.
Speaking to NNIS Sports, Yograj questioned Dhoni’s tactics of playing slow in the death overs and blamed him for putting pressure on Jadeja and other batsmen at the other end. The former India pacer said that Dhoni should have gone for the big shots instead of asking his younger teammates to do so.
“One boy (Ravindra Jadeja) comes and he starts playing the big shots at will without any worry. You are batting on the other end. You are telling him to play the shots while he was batting on 77. Before that, you told Hardik Pandya to take on the spinners,” Yograj was quoted as saying by NNIS Sports.
“Mr. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, you have played so much cricket. Don’t you have any sense about what to do and what not? he questioned.
Yograj even cited the example of his son, Yuvraj Singh.
“Did Yuvraj ever tell any other player to play the shots as you do?
“You got so many half-volleys, you hit huge sixes, what happened to you at that moment? Were you worried? You should have got out. What difference would it have made?” the 61-year-old added.
