MS Dhoni explains why Amit Mishra was dropped for the 2nd ODI against South Africa

Despite being India’s best bowler in the 1^st ODI, Amit Mishra was dropped for the 2^nd ODI at Indore

MS Dhoni revealed that Amit Mishra’s inadequacy with the bat was the reason he dropped the leg-spinner from the 2^nd ODI against South Africa at Indore on Wednesday, ESPNCricinfo reports. While the Indian skipper acknowledged that the Haryana cricketer was the best bowler in the series opener, the decision had to be made keeping the balance of the team in mind.

Mishra impressed one and all, playing his first One-Day International after exactly one year on Sunday at Kanpur, finishing with figures of 47/2 from his allotted 10 overs. After Ravichandran Ashwin was ruled out of the ODI series after picking up a side strain in the match at Kanpur, Mishra was expected to be India’s lead spinner for the remainder of the series.

Dhoni’s revelation however that Mishra was not included in the playing eleven at Indore took everyone by surprise, but Dhoni has now come out and explained the thought process behind the decision.

"No.7 is very crucial," he said. "Even in this game if you see, Mishra was our best bowler in the last game. But we had to drop him, the reason being we want that No.7 to bat. Axar gives us slightly more than Mishra because in the modern game you can't play with six batters and five bowlers. That day is gone, you can't really compete when it comes to that. You need somebody who can bat at No.7.”

Dhoni acknowledged that India has real concerns in regards to finding a proper all-rounder who can bat at that position.

“And you know, the few people who are there for us - Stuart Binny is one, Jadeja and Axar. These are the three people who can bowl and bat. Other than that there are not many. There are few others in the domestic circuit who are doing well so we will definitely like to have a look. Because ideally in this game we would have liked to play Mishra, but it just makes it impossible to think about Mishra batting at No.7 and then Harbhajan or Harbhajan at No.7 followed by Mishra,” Dhoni said.

"It just puts too much pressure on the batsmen who are on top because in situations like these when you lose early wickets or you lose a few wickets in quick succession in the middle overs, it just puts tremendous pressure on the two batsmen who are batting. Imagine, you are supposed to hit a six, you want to play the big shot, but you have to be 110% sure once you are hitting, it has to go over the boundary,” he added.

Mishra’s omission didn’t hurt India too badly as the hosts defeated the Proteas by 22 runs to equalize the series 1-1. It was Dhoni himself who played a match-winning innings rescuing India from a precarious 124/6 to a fighting total of 247. Having silenced his critics, at least for the time being, Dhoni revealed that, as skipper, one always needs to be prepared to take unpopular decisions.

"So these are the kinds of pressure that you tend to take and there is no easy way out. It's very easy to say on paper that this is the combination we should go with, but excuse me, cricket is not played that way. You need to have people who contribute," he said.