'Bowling karega ya bowler change karein': MS Dhoni to Kuldeep Yadav in his inimitable style
NEW DELHI: Stand-in skipper MS Dhoni, who was leading the Indian team for the record 200th time in ODIs after nearly two years on Tuesday, came up with one of his stinging one-liner from behind the stumps that beat chinaman Kuldeep Yadav all ends up.
Kuldeep pressed for a change on the field but Dhoni was adamant not to give the spinner his choice of field against Afghanistan during the last Super Four match of the Asia Cup in Dubai. Kuldeep persisted for a change but Dhoni not only turned a blind eye to his request but also gave him a cheeky reply, "Bowling karega ya bowler change karein".
The reply was caught on the stump mic and soon created a buzz on Twitter.
Kuldeep recently recalled an incident during a chat show that Dhoni asked him to make some change on the field but the spinner was not okay with it. Dhoni lost his cool and screamed at him, "Am I mad who has played 300 matches?" Kuldeep immediately made the desired change and soon got a wicket. Dhoni then told him, "That's what I was talking about".
On Tuesday, Dhoni also became the third player to captain their country in 200 or more ODIs after Ricky Ponting of Australia and Stephen Fleming of New Zealand.
Dhoni quit limited-overs captaincy in January 2017 after leading India in 199 one-dayers, winning 110 and losing 74 prior to this match. He played his last one-dayer as captain against New Zealand on October 29, 2016 which India won convincingly by 190 runs.
Dhoni also skippered India in 72 Twenty20 Internationals, with 41 wins and 28 losses.
Rohit Sharma, who is leading the side in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli, has been rested for this match along with Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal.
The five players which came into the playing eleven were Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar who will be making his ODI debut for India.