MS Dhoni is human after all. By his standards, he had a mixed day behind the stumps during the Asia Cup final against Bangladesh.
Dhoni missed an easy run out of Soumya Sarkar in the 36th over of the Bangladesh innings but made up for it a few overs late by inflicting a lightning-quick stumping to bring an end to a marathon innings Liton Das.
India had clawed their way back into the game thanks to their spinners Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja after Bangladesh had put on a 120-run opening stand. Jadhav gave the first breakthrough by removing Mehidy Hasan for 29 and then India got Bangladesh five down for 151. India could have got them six down for 160 had Dhoni collected the ball while dislodging bails in the 36th over.
Sarkar was sent back after he set off for a quick run and Kuldeep at mid-wicket released a quick throw to Dhoni. But the former India captain, surprisingly, failed to gather the ball cleanly, which allowed Sarkar to make his way back into the crease.
A few overs later, Dhoni made up for his mistake by inflicting two stumpings – both off Kuldeep Yadav. The first was in the last ball off the 41st over when Liton, batting on 121, stretched a bit too far to make contact with a Kuldeep googly. Dhoni gathered the ball and whipped the bails off in a flash. After several replays, the third umpire finally ruled it in India’s favour.
An over later it was Mortaza’s turn to fall prey to the Kuldeep-Dhoni combo. This was an easy stumping as Mortaza had run down the wicket and ended up missing the Kuldeep’s googly altogether. This was Dhoni’s 113th stumping in ODIs.