World Cup 2019: 5 reasons why MS Dhoni coming in at No.7 against New Zealand was a tactical blunder

India fell agonisingly short of a place at the World Cup 2019 final as a sensational direct hit from Martin Guptill ended the hopes of one of the most miraculous comebacks in World Cup history, with New Zealand sealing their place in the finals of the competition.

New Zealand batted first and put up a below-par target of 240 on the board, owing to impressive bowling performances from Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja. The inning was completed on the reserve day because of relentless rain and India came out to bat on a fresh, yet moist wicket.

They had the worst possible start and within a span of 20 balls, their top three run-getters of the tournament were back in the hut with the scoreboard reading 5/3. Despite some resistance from Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, besides a staggering 113-run partnership between Jadeja and MS Dhoni, New Zealand came out on top by 18 runs.

However, one question that puzzled every Indian cricket fan was why Dhoni was pushed down the batting order, when the need of the hour was experience at the middle. It felt rather bemusing to see wickets tumbling in the middle and a player like MS Dhoni with such massive calibre seeing all that unfold from 100 metres out.

Here are five reasons why Dhoni coming in late down the order was a tactical blunder from the team management.

#5 Expecting inexperienced players to tackle Henry and Boult

India v New Zealand - ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Semi-Final

In no time, the soul of Indian batting, their top order was back in the pavilion and India were tottering at 5-3. The two batsmen out there, trying to negate such venomous spell of fast bowling on a stage of World Cup semi-final were Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik. While Karthik did have some experience, Pant was pretty raw for such a situation and condition.

Rishabh Pant was only 8 ODI innings old while Karthik had faced only 8 deliveries in the entire campaign.

MS Dhoni was the only batsman to have had a proper outing with the bat throughout the tournament other than the top three and the players who hardly had enough match practice were suddenly facing the spell of fast bowling which even Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli couldn't handle.

However, Pant played well while Karthik got out to a stunning catch from James Neesham. Yet, the mere ideology behind pushing the finishers up the order and asking the most experienced batsman in the dressing room to wait for his chance was quite baffling.

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#4 Not utilising batters according to their strengths

Players like Pant, Pandya and Karthik are naturally free-flowing players. Karthik had a defined role of batting at number 7 and had to be backed to play crucial cameos. In the chase, India wasted the role of Dinesh Karthik and that failure has probably ended his ODI career.

Hypothetically, even if India needed more than 10 runs per over in the last 10 overs, the probability of a win could have been higher if one of Pandya or Karthik were still to follow than the scenario which unfolded in front of us that day.

India had all their attacking weapons diminished even before the 25th over and Jadeja-Dhoni had to put together a fairytale partnership, which they almost did, but could not take India across the line.

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#3 Protecting Dhoni from taking the toughest responsibility

MS Dhoni has played the most number of matches and has better experience of such situations than anyone playing in this World Cup, let alone the Indian team. Dhoni has a pretty solid defensive game and he is, by a country mile, the best middle-order batsman of the team. When the going gets tough, it is the big players who put their hands up and try to face the challenge. But on 10th July, what we witnessed was a very surprising sight.

In a very similar situation, but on a very different stage, seven years ago, India were 29-5 against Pakistan when Dhoni came out and blocked everything initially enroute an unbeaten century.

Cricket experts and analysts all over the world raised their disappointment over the decision and due to such severe criticism, Ravi Shastri was forced to give out the exact reasoning behind the move.

He said ''the last thing we wanted was to MS get out early, that would have killed the chase''. The probability of such an event happening was realistic, however, no team can win big matches with such a defensive mindset.

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#2 Still expecting Dhoni to play that magical inning

MS Dhoni has been one of the greatest cricketers of all time but it is a fact that he is well past his prime. The team management was still expecting Dhoni to play the inning which he once used to.

Dhoni's hitting abilities are certainly a tad bit restricted now and he played risk-free cricket throughout the tournament because of the role which he had been given. Naturally, the strengths of players change and so does their game over the course of time.

His game of hitting those massive sixes throughout is now slowly fading away and his biggest strength lies in controlling the innings.

But still, because of that incredible inning from Jadeja, India came within touching distance. Dhoni was desperate to take India over the line and the calculations were ticking in his mind. Out of the blue came that unfortunate run-out and dejection followed all-around. It was very clear that Dhoni didn't have the time which was needed for him to dictate the innings and create a telling impact.

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#1 Outcome of the decision

If it had been any other match, then the decision wouldn't have come under such serious scanner. However, because of it being a World Cup semi-final and because of India's defeat, the magnitude of the criticism has been massive.

Former cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and some others voiced their strong disapproval of the move of Dhoni coming out to bat so deep in a match with such high stakes.

The expectations from Indian fans has always been humongous and without the Indian fans, the World Cup would be like a sky without stars. The backlash was only natural and the answerability had to be stern.

It's one thing to be flexible and it's a completely different thing to be unsure. The constant chopping and changing of the middle order finally paid its price as India bowed out of the tournament.

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