Ben Stokes questions MS Dhoni's intent, Virat Kohli's comments post 2019 World Cup match

England lifted the 2019 World Cup at home on the back of some stellar performances from their star all-rounder Ben Stokes. Stokes, who recently came up with a book titled On Fire, questioned the run-chasing tactics applied by the Indian batsmen when the two nations clashed in the 38th match of the same tournament. The all-rounder said that he saw “no intent” from MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav when the two batsmen were at the crease.

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Ben Stokes recalls 2019 World Cup clash against India, questions MS Dhoni

In his book, Ben Stokes wrote that he was mystified by the batting approach of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma during their partnership. The two batsmen took up 25.5 overs to form a 138-run second-wicket stand when India were in pursuit of a 338-run target. He also questioned MS Dhoni’s batting technique as the veteran wicketkeeper scored only 42 runs from 31 balls, even though the batsman arrived at the crease when India required another 112 runs from their remaining 11 overs.

Ben Stokes believes that India were in with a chance of winning the contest when MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav were batting together. He wrote that the England camp were always aware of Dhoni’s approach of sticking around and taking the game as close as possible. However, the two batsmen were committed to taking singles until the penultimate over. While the final over of the Indian innings yielded 12 runs, the contest was already out of the ‘Men in Blue’s’ reach by then. Ben Stokes said that India’s batting seemed bizarre to the England team management but admitted that their tactic played into England’s hands.

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Ben Stokes describes Virat Kohli’s boundary complaints as “whingeing”

Apart from questioning MS Dhoni’s run-chasing methods, Ben Stokes also slammed Indian captain Virat Kohli’s boundary complaints from the post-match ceremony. During the presentation ceremony, Virat Kohli complained that one side of the ground had a 59-metre boundary. Stokes said that it was weird for him to hear Kohli “whingeing” about the size of the boundaries and admitted that he had never heard such a “bizarre” complaint before.

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A recap of ICC Cricket World Cup England vs India match

England won the toss and decided to bat first. The home side stockpiled 337-7 on the board with Ben Stokes fury-filled 79 off 54 providing the finishing touches. The Indian batsman began their run-case on a dawdling note, scoring just 28 of their first 10 overs. Rohit Sharma (102) and Virat Kohli (66) top-scored in the Indian innings followed by Hardik Pandya with a stroke-filled 45 off 33 balls.

At 267-5 after 44.5 overs, Kedar Jadhav joined forces with his Chennai Super Kings (CSK) teammate MS Dhoni. While India required 71 runs from 5.1 overs, the two CSK batsmen took a tentative approach and scored only 39 runs from their 31-ball partnership. Jadhav consumed 13 balls to finish at 12* as India fell short of their target by 31 runs.

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