Kohli defends Dhoni after boos at Lord's

walked a single to third man to reach 10,000 ODI runs, but there was barely a clap heard at Lord's. Even the Indian dressing room was glum.
Not long after that, Dhoni was booed as India's run rate came to a virtual standstill in the final 10 overs, after the chase of 323 fell apart. Boos and slow-hand claps rang across the ground because Dhoni was reluctant to play aggressively.
Dhoni had walked in at the fall of Virat Kohli's wicket with India needing 183 in 23 overs, the asking rate a shade below eight. By the time he was dismissed for 37 off 59 balls, 20 overs later, India had added just 75 runs, and the required rate had nearly doubled. India didn't have a single over that went for over 10 in the last 15; overs 40 to 50 produced just 42. It was also the first time since the 2011 World Cup semi-final that India failed hit a six in an ODI.

When Dhoni was finally caught slogging Liam Plunkett to deep midwicket in the 47th over, the crowd clapped his dismissal. At the presentation, Kohli reasoned that Dhoni's plan was to ensure India did not suffer a big defeat.
"The idea was to take the innings deep," Kohli said. "We don't want to lose by 160 or 170 runs. You want to take it as deep as you can and he has got the experience, but some days it just doesn't come off. People just jump to conclusions, which we as a team don't. We totally believe in him and in the abilities in all the other players."
Kohli said the team was not affected by the criticism of Dhoni. "This thing comes up again and again when he is not able to play the way he does," Kohli said. "It is very unfortunate that people just jump to conclusions very quickly. When he does well people call him best finisher ever. And when things don't go well people pounce on him. We all have bad days in cricket. Today was I think a bad day for everyone, not just for him alone. And just as a batting unit we could not click."
Yuzvendra Chahal, India's No. 11, also said he understood Dhoni's position. With a long tail -Kuldeep Yadav, Siddarth Kaul and himself - Chahal said Dhoni was helpless. "He had not also batted much through the series. And if he had gone for the shots and got out then probably India might not have played all the 50 overs."

India must solve their middle-order muddle - the big three can't do it all

Virat Kohli's biggest fear was exposed at Lord's. He mentioned recently that the one area India need to work out before the World Cup is the middle order. He was right. On Saturday, India's venerable batting order unravelled, leaving Kohli chewing his nails watching the horror show from the vantage point of the dressing room balcony.
Tongues wagged in the morning after Eoin Morgan elected to bat on a what turned out to be a slow pitch. Kohli said at the toss he would have chased anyway. Those were words spoken more from confidence than arrogance.
It has not just been their form, but one the main reason India have been such a dominant force in ODI cricket in the last couple of years has been the success of their top order comprising Kohli, who follows the openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.
In the last three years, in successful chases, Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli have together scored 59% of the runs for India. In the last eight matches, one of those three has scored a century. Here Rohit failed, having notched a match-winning century at Trent Bridge. Dhawan set the momentum with a powerful start, but once again could not convert. Kohli showed promise, but stuttered and was eventually defeated by a good ball.

Usman, Hasan combine to restrict Zimbabwe to 194

When Donald Tiripano comes in to bat at No. 7, the indication that the talent pool is drying up isn't all that far-fetched. A Zimbabwean side stretched to their limit by the absences in their squad - which seem to be mounting by the match - cobbled together a gritty innings, setting Pakistan 195 to win in Bulawayo. It's unlikely to be enough, but really, what more could they have done?
On a bitterly cold day in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe decided to bat first, Hamilton Masakadza having realised his team wasn't all that likely to fare well in another chase after what had happened on Friday. They found themselves on the back foot instantly, mustering just three runs and losing a wicket in the first four overs, the ever-impressive Usman Khan doing Brian Chari in with an outswinging delivery he edged behind. Fellow opener Chamu Chibhabha also fell to the left-arm fast bowler, attempting to cut a ball too close to his body and under-edging to the keeper.
With the dismally out-of-form skipper Masakadza lumbering up to the crease, it looked like a grey day for Zimbabwe in more ways than one. But with Tarisai Musakanda, he put together a partnership that heralded the brightest phase of play in the entire innings, with the pair picking up the pace and forcing Pakistan onto the back foot for the best part of an hour.
Masakadza was particularly effective, not looking slow with his footwork as he has for much of the past two weeks, getting to the pitch of the ball and finding the middle consistently. Zimbabwe began to rotate the strike regularly and find the boundary often enough, pushing the run rate up from under 3 to over 4 runs per over. But they needed to kick on and convert the stand into one that shaped the entire innings, and that is exactly what Zimbabwe just weren't good enough to do.