Dhoni flops as India lose to NZ by six runs

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's role as a finisher again came under scanner as New Zealand pipped India by six runs in a thrilling second ODI encounter, here tonight.
The Black Caps levelled the five-match series 1-1 and in the process also won their first game of the tour. India were all-out for 236 in 49.3 overs chasing a target of 243. It is also after 11 long years that India have lost an ODI at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
Hardik Pandya (36) and Umesh Yadav (18) had tried their best with a 49-run stand for the ninth wicket but Pandya's dismissal in the penultimate over ended India's hopes with Southee cleaning up Jasprit Bumrah (0) in the final over with a perfect yorker.

But the match again raised question mark about 'Captain Cool's ability to win matches even when there wasn't too much pressure of the scoreboard.
The target was not a big one and the juncture at which Dhoni walked in gave him ample time to play himself into the game. He ran well but also at times got stuck with Mitchell Santner drying up the runs.
Keeping a cover and an extra cover, Santner flighted it outside the off-stump and the Indian skipper found it difficult to get going.

There were only three boundaries in his 39 off 65 balls but what was striking was his inability to generate power in his shots most of the times. He played as many as 37 dot balls.

The only standout shot was a short arm pull off Henry. He failed to attack both Santner and Anton Devcich.
Henry ended Dhoni's misery with a stunning one handed return catch when the Indian skipper failed to read a slower one. But it was a more a case of the increasing pressure on him.
He added 66 for the fifth wicket with Kedar Jadhav (41). But it was Kedar, who looked like a dominant partner hitting couple of sixes off Santner.
First was a half-tracker that was pulled into the mid-wicket stands and the second was an inside out shot over extra covers. He also ran well between the wickets with his skipper converting the ones into twos.

Just when he was looking good for a half-century, Kedar tried to steer a fuller delivery from Henry to be caught behind as India were in a spot at 139 for five.
What was weird was Dhoni's decision to play second fiddle to both Kedar and then Axar Patel (17) as he let the game drift with the dot balls adding to the pressure.
(REOPENS DEL 29)
England lost 10 wickets in 48.2 overs, for the addition of 104 runs, after their openers - captain Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings - had added 103.
Jadeja got into the act after lunch as he struck thrice to bring the spring back in India's steps to leave England at 167 for four at tea.

Jadeja first cut short Cook's stay at the crease when he was one shy of a half century, followed that with the dismissal of Jennings (54) and then sent back Joe Root (6) to leave England in a spot of bother at 126 for three.
The situation got worse for the visitors when they lost Jonny Bairstow, sent back by a Ishant Sharma, who looked pretty sharp and thereafter, tested Ben Stokes with deliveries that got off the wicket.
At tea, first-innings centurion Moeen Ali and Stokes were batting on 32 and 13 respectively, cutting down the deficit to 115 runs with six wickets remaining.

Jadeja, who pulled off a brilliant catch at midwicket to end Bairstow's brief stay in the middle, had impressive figures of 3/38 before the start of the final session.
Moeen and Stokes' partnership had consumed 12 overs by tea, and had settled English nerves a bit.
Even though the hosts looked threatening, England took solace from the fact that the pitch remained pretty flat and hoped to avoid a 0-4 drubbing even with an set ultra attacking field placements. That was, however, not to be as wickets fell in a heap in the final session.
The first wicket of the day came when Cook, like he often does, shuffled across too much and ended up giving a catch at leg slip.

Jennings offered a return catch to Jadeja in a soft dismissal, while Root was out lbw after he went for a sweep and failed to connect.
Virat Kohli went for a review after the on field umpire thought otherwise, and the India skipper was right as replays showed the full ball hitting the leg stump.
Then Bairstow flicked one towards deep midwicket and an agile Jadeja too a great catch running backwards.
That was tea, and things only got worse after the break.
Moeen was the first casualty after tea as he fell to Jadeja's guile - caught at mid-on by Ravichandran Ashwin to a casual shot.

Jadeja was not done as he next dismissed Ben Stokes, who hit straight into the waiting hands of Karun Nair at midwicket.
The throw went wide off Renshaw but it led to an exchange
between Ishant, Renshaw and Smith. The umpire, however, quickly defused the situation by calling in Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
Following a couple of minutes delay, Ishant finally resumed his over and charged Renshaw with a short-pitched ball which hit the youngster's thigh pad.
The delivery climbed straight up to hit Renshaw's chin through the gap of the helmet grill. Ishant followed it up with a bouncer that swung past Renshaw from a middle stump line, putting the opener under pressure.

Finally, the breakthrough moment came for India when Ishant cramped Renshaw for room with a full length delivery that trapped the left-hander right on front.
Ishant exulted with an animated celebration and capped the brilliant over with a bouncer to Marsh, which hit the batsman's ribs.
Jadeja then delivered the biggest wicket by claiming the Smith with the first ball of the next over. Following the dismissals, the Indians had a spring in their step before Handscomb and Marsh's recovery act unfolded.
Surprisingly, Kohli brought Jadeja only after 11 overs in the post-lunch session even though Ashwin looked ineffective on the flat deck.

The return of Jadeja led to India bowling four maiden overs in a row from 50th to 53rd overs.
But the Aussie duo did not mind the slow flow of runs and were successful in the recovery act in the second session that yielded 66 from 33 overs but more importantly without any wicket.
Handscomb survived a scare on six when his flick to short leg was nearly caught by Karun Nair, the only blip in an otherwise clean knock.