“It was heartbreak moment” – MS Dhoni recalls painful 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final loss

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni recalled the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final loss against New Zealand. India was chasing a target of 240 but found themselves under the cosh at 92-6 after 30.3 overs. However, Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni added 116 runs for the seventh wicket to keep India in the contest.

India needed 25 runs off the last 10 balls when Dhoni called Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a second run but Martin Guptill was able to hit the bullseye at the striker end. Subsequently, India suffered a heartbreaking 18-run loss and was knocked out of the tournament.

India had topped the points table in the league stage with seven wins in nine matches. The Virat Kohli-led team had lost against England whereas their match against New Zealand was abandoned due to rain.

MS Dhoni said in a video during an event, “It was a difficult one because I knew that this will be my last World Cup, so it would have been good to be on the winning side. It was a heartbreak moment, so we accepted the result and we tried to move on. It takes time and one gets some time after the World Cup. I hadn’t played any international cricket after that so I got a lot of time.”

“So, yes, it was a heartbreak but at the same time you have to get out of it. So you just accept that you tried your best, but you were not able to win it,” he added.

It was also Dhoni’s last match in Indian colors as he decided to hang his boots on 15 August 2020. 

On the other hand, Dhoni picked Jasprit Bumrah as his favorite bowler in the current era whereas he didn’t pick any batter as he said there are many batters who are doing well.

“Current favorite, it’s easy to pick a bowler since Bumrah is there. It’s difficult to pick a batter because we have several good batters but that doesn’t mean bowlers aren’t good. It’s difficult pick one among batters as whomever I see batting, he looks the best but then I see someone else he also looks great. As long as team India are doing fine, I don’t want to pick a batter but I hope they will keep scoring runs. However, I have picked my favorite bowler,” said Dhoni.

India is currently on the tour of Sri Lanka and they will take on the hosts in a three-match ODI series.