When Ravi Shastri slammed MS Dhoni for slow strike rate against England

While Mahendra Singh Dhoni certainly comes among the most explosive batters the game of cricket has ever witnessed, Ravi Shastri has made his name as one of the most explosive coaches.

Dhoni’s exceptional skill of snatching a match away from the opponents has rescued the Indian unit several times during his playing days. However, while he was always recognised as a big hitter, he faced criticism for slower innings in the later half of his career.

Now, an inside story of the Indian dressing room about the same topic has come to light in the autobiography of former fielding coach R Sridhar – Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team. As revealed in the book by Sridhar, Dhoni was once scolded by the then head coach Ravi Shastri for his lack of effort in a 2018 ODI against England.

India travelled to England to play an all-format series which included three T20Is, three ODIs, and five Tests. The visitors bagged the T20I series 2-1 and clinched victory in the opening 50-over game before enduring a massive 86-run defeat in the second ODI.

Looking at the game in which India lost, England batted first and set a target of 323 runs, powered by Joe Root’s impressive 113. Coming in to chase, the Indian top order failed to contribute anything significant to the scoresheet, except for an 80-run stand between Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina.

After the duo left for the hut, Hardik Pandya and Dhoni were left with the responsibility of ensuring India’s victory. However, Pandya could not stay for long on the crease and was dismissed for just 21 runs. In the final ten overs, India were 139 runs behind and had lost as many as seven wickets, with Dhoni being the only batter to survive along with the tail-enders.

Though the required rate was above 13, the former captain did not show much urgency. Finally, in the 47th over, pacer Liam Plunkett sent him off for 37 runs off 59 deliveries and the Kohli-led side eventually lost the game by 86 runs. Notably, Dhoni achieved the feat of 10,000 ODI runs in the same match.

Reminiscing about the match, Sridhar noted in his book that Shastri was furious with Dhoni’s approach after his poor show during the chase. He was not as much upset about the defeat or the margin. The coach was clear in his point that Dhoni needed to accelerate the innings reacting to the situation accordingly.

Sridhar wrote, “Uncharacteristically, he (Dhoni) shut shop, and even though our required rate in the last 10 was nearly 13 an over, we only managed some 20 runs in the next six overs. That was the innings when MS got to 10,000 ODI runs, a very significant milestone. We were all thrilled for him, but we also wanted to know why he hadn’t made even a token attempt at the target.”

Shastri vented out his frustration during the team meeting ahead of the final ODI which was also the series decider. He indirectly lashed out at the veteran batter while maintaining eye contact with him and warned, “No matter who you may be, there should not be another occasion when we lose a match not trying to win it. It will not happen under my watch. And if anyone does it, that will be the last bloody game of cricket they will play under my watch. You can lose a cricket game, no shame in that, but you will not lose like this,” Shastri further added.

In reply, Dhoni, doing justice to his reputation, remained calm and digested all. Sridhar explained in detail, “MS was sitting right there in the front, and while Ravi’s words were meant for the team, his eyes were trained on MS. To the former skipper’s great credit, he didn’t flinch, he never broke eye contact with Ravi. He didn’t look here and there or fidget because one of his many admirable qualities is his ability to take the knocks, especially when he knows in his heart of hearts that he deserves them.”

A year later, India endured a thumping defeat against England in the 2019 World Cup owing to a similar kind of batting approach from Dhoni. While on a chase of 338 runs, they needed 71 runs in the last five overs. Dhoni ended the match with an unbeaten knock of 42 off 31 balls but India fell 31 runs short of the target.

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