The Men in Blue would have loved to seal the series by winning the second T20I but the hosts had perfect plans to stop them. However, with the help of Klaasen’s brilliant innings, South Africa managed to put a break to team India’s winning streak.
Possibly, for the first time in this tour, India’s middle order outshined the top order. As the top order failed to score big, the middle order batsmen Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni took up the responsibility and roared against the Proteas. For quite some time, former India captain MS Dhoni was under the scrutiny for his rather circumspect approach in Twenty-20 internationals.
However, it all changed during the second T20I in Centurion. The wicket-keeper batsman wreaked havoc with a quick fire 52 off 28 balls whereas Manish scored an unbeaten 79 off 48 balls. It was a vintage Dhoni, who played some of his trademark shots to notch up his second fifty in the shortest format.
Dhoni’s fast and furious innings was laced with 4 boundaries and 3 sixes. Both were involved in a brilliant 98-run partnership for the fourth wicket. He has rarely shown his emotions on the cricket field. And that particular trait has fetched him the tag of being a ‘cool’ cricketer. But this wasn’t same for him in the 2nd T20I.
As the duo gave fans entertainment worth their money, in one of the rare moments, Dhoni was seen losing his cool at Pandey. The incident happened in final over of India’s innings when Dhoni was at the crease. After the first ball, Dhoni was seen yelling at Pandey, asking him to focus towards him and not look elsewhere.
He is heard using cuss words to call Manish Pandey and is apparently scolding him too. The stump mic clearly caught Dhoni shouting, “Oye! Bho*&I$# Idhar dekh le. Udhar kya dekh Raha hai?!”
Watch The Video Here:
Really is that you #Dhoni ? 😂 #SAvIND #INDvSA #manishpandey pic.twitter.com/RuvCehOTV6
— PATRIOT 🇮🇳 (@iamchetss) February 21, 2018
Well, from the way things perspired, it is apparent that Dhoni wanted the non-striker batsman, Manish Pandey, to keep an eye on the field placings and how to go about the plan in the final overs. Dhoni smashed a power-packed six off the next ball where he hammered a wide delivery over covers for a six.
While Pandey addressed quite a few topics, from his batting position to Heinrich Klaasen, his comment on batting with Dhoni in the last few overs left the media contingent in splits during the post-match press conference.
“Mahi woke up. There was his chance. He is probably the best when he bats lower down the order. In the last couple of overs, he looks to dominate and he has done that a number of times,” said Manish. “I thought South Africa bowled fairly well. It is just that a couple of inside edges went to the boundary and some really good shots by Mahi to take us to 188. But I think South Africa bowled fairly well today,” added the right-handed batsman.
Check Out How Twitterati Responded:
Series of events! 😂 pic.twitter.com/K5FaY887Aa
— 🇮🇳. (@Bhaumik8737) February 22, 2018
Dhoni to Manish Pandey pic.twitter.com/mJbTcgKOqi
— SAGAR (@sagarcasm) February 22, 2018
Books to me while I’m studying pic.twitter.com/FoDDSABHUg
— P.R. (@pr_akash_raj) February 21, 2018
Some quotes by Indian cricketers pic.twitter.com/dZxxN30THs
— Bollywood Gandu (@BollywoodGandu) February 22, 2018
Close enough 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/xqJjcwdsIS
— sane_insane (@Aawara86) February 22, 2018
When your friend helping a girl in exam instead of helping you pic.twitter.com/h3cxxNmxI6
— Rishabh Srivastava (@AskRishabh) February 21, 2018
Middle class people to Arun Jaitley. pic.twitter.com/iggHklFImU
— Akshay (@AkshayKatariyaa) February 21, 2018
Girls to Their Bf after priya varrier video pic.twitter.com/HbIFLYiyIo
— Sakht Launda #HMP (@Cccccc49758939) February 21, 2018
Girls to pani puri wala. pic.twitter.com/8dy80vQ06H
— Akshay (@AkshayKatariyaa) February 21, 2018