What message did Kohli give to Dhoni in the 46th over?

Virat Kohli might have defended Dhoni in every possible way at the post-match presentation but there was a point in the 2nd ODI at Lord’s when Kohli too was frustrated with Dhoni’s lack of intent.

Virat Kohli might have defended Dhoni in every possible way at the post-match presentation but there was a point in the 2^nd ODI at Lord’s when Kohli too was frustrated with Dhoni’s lack of intent.

Dhoni was out caught at mid-wicket trying to hoick Liam Plunkett in 47^th over of the Indian innings, which, unfortunately, was the only shot of actual intent in his 59-ball struggle in the middle. That sudden heave from Dhoni when the match was already out of India’s reach, was because of a certain indication from skipper Virat Kohli.

The Indian innings had gone nowhere since Kohli’s dismissal in the 27^th over. Dhoni’s pain-stricken stay at the middle only stretched the game but had little to do to improve India’s chance. Needless to say, Dhoni’s approach did not go down well with the Indian contingent present at Lord’s, who resorted to booing the former Indian captain in the 46^th over.

The crowd got restless when Dhoni failed to score off the first four balls of David Willey's over. There was booing after every dot ball, a rare occurrence considering the huge fan base Dhoni enjoys around the cricketing globe.

That triggered Indian captain Virat Kohli to gesture animatedly from the Lord’s balcony and even send out substitute fielders Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel to pass on the get things moving message to Dhoni.   

Off the very first ball in the next over, Dhoni was caught at the deep mid-wicket boundary, trying a wild heave.

Chahal, who came for the post-match press conference, however, said that there was no message from the dressing room for Dhoni to accelerate.

“I don't know what was said to him (when he changed bats). After Hardik was dismissed, there was only me, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav and Kuldeep. So, it wasn't like there were 2-3 specialist batsmen remaining.

"He hadn't batted much, so this was a chance to get a knock. If he had hit a shot earlier and got out, we couldn't have even batted all 50 overs,” Chahal said.

While it didn't concern the English team, Root did find it a bit surprising.

Yes (it was surprising), but ultimately it doesn't really concern us. We always try and judge how we approach the game and how we go about things. We try to maintain a professional approach and be as ruthless as possible. We managed to see India through by bowling them out by the end of the game. So, we are looking after our own game and putting ourselves in a strong position by the end of the game,” Root said.