OF ALL THE PEOPLE who questioned MS Dhoni’s place in the Indian ODI team, former India bowler Ajit Agarkar was at the centre of receiving the most flak.
Following Dhoni’s first ODI failure at Kanpur, Agarkar had called for the selectors to dissect Dhoni’s role in the Indian team, not just as a captain but also as a batsman. The former cricketer had gone to the extent of hinting the selectors to look at Virat Kohli as his possible replacement in limited overs.
But, to be fair to him, he wasn’t the only one to call for the skipper’s head. Certain ex-cricketers and armchair pundits came out in full force to scrutinise India’s World Cup winning captain, based on a single innings.
Six days later, Dhoni answered all his critics with a terrific knock under pressure in the 2nd ODI, when the rest of the batsmen failed. His unbeaten 92 helped India post a respectable total on the board for South Africa. As usual, Twitter went berserk in jubilation; fans were more than happy to welcome Dhoni back into form. As for the critics, Dhoni’s willow did the talking!
TFG brings you an account of the ‘Before’ and ‘After’ on the MSD saga.
Here's Harsha Bhogle on Dhoni:
Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar expressing his views:
Cricket pundit Ayaz Memon:
Ex-India Test batsman Aakash Chopra:
Such are the dynamics of sports commentators. One day, you're not at your best. On another, you're the best! And all it takes is one innings to be on either side of the dividing line.
Luckily for Dhoni, he has the most amazing fans in the world. So when Dhoni got back to doing what he does best, his fans hit back at Agarkar and how!