Bengaluru, Dec 13: The wait for a big knock from MS Dhoni continued. After 3 matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Jharkhand in Bengaluru, India's limited overs captain has failed to register a single half century.
And on Sunday (December 13) it was again disappointment. However, Jharkhand won by 5 wickets for their 2nd victory in 3 games.
Dhoni was featuring in Jharkhand side in domestic cricket after 8 years. He scored 9 and 44 in previous two games in the ongoing one-day tournament.
Today, he fell cheaply again, for 18 (31 balls, 1x4) as Jharkhand successfully chased 237 against Kerala in a Group B contest at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Left-hander Saurabh Tiwary's unbeaten 87 (94 balls, 7x4, 1x6) guided the team home. Jharkhand scored 240/5 in 47 overs.
Dhoni had walked out to the middle with his team at 80/3 in 22.1 overs. As in his previous two visits to the crease, the 34-year-old was not at his best. After facing 31 balls in his 36-minute stay in the middle, Dhoni offered a return catch to 20-year-old off-spinner Fabid Ahmed and the bowler accepted it gleefully.
What resulted after the catch was a big moment for Ahmed and his team-mates. Ahmed raced away on a celebratory run and was congratulated by his colleagues. It was a wicket to cherish for the youngster. As Kerala players were jubilant, some 250 supporters at the ground were heartbroken.
Scores in brief
Kerala 236/8 in 50 overs (VA Jagadeesh 62, Sachin Baby 61, Prasanth Padmanabhan 34 not out, Rahul Shukla 3/47) lost to Jharkhand 240/5 in 47 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 87 not out, Kaushal Singh 48, Anand Singh 27, Ankit Dabas 18 not out, MS Dhoni 18)
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