T20 World Cup: Jadeja indirectly blames Dhoni for India's loss against South Africa

India on Sunday suffered their first defeat of the ongoing T20 World Cup as they lost to South Africa in a low-scoring thriller courtesy of brilliant half-centuries from Aiden Markram and David Miller which helped the Proteas overcome early hiccups to win the Group 2 game by five wickets.

Chasing 134, South Africa was off to a bad start as they lost in-form batters Quinton de Kock (1) and Rilee Rossouw (0) to pacer Arshdeep Singh. The bowler was breathing fire in his first over and dismissed them both within the first three balls. Proteas were reduced to 3/2.

Eventually, India had SA down at 24/3, but Miller (59*) and Markram (52) powered them to victory with two balls to spare.

Interestingly, former India batter Ajay Jadeja indirectly blamed ex-India captain MS Dhoni for the loss as he compared Miller’s approach with Dhoni.

“What David Miller has done with his game and taken it to another level is not by adding any shots or adding anything else. He’s become calmer and waits for the opposition to make a mistake by taking the game deep. The lesson that MS Dhoni has taught the rest of the world, we are suffering because of that,” said Jadeja during an interaction on Cricbuzz.

Jadeja further went on to question Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in the match as he believed that India should have given Mohammed Shami an extended spell against David Miller, given that the batter was a tad uncomfortable against him.

“Mohammed Shami was going through a great spell against David Miller, and there was a chance of a run-out as well. Miller would not have wanted him to bowl at that stage. So you only made it comfortable for him, waiting for him to make a mistake, and he isn’t making mistakes as he is now a wily old fox,” Jadeja said.

Meanwhile, with the win on Sunday, South Africa is at top of the table with five points and two wins in three matches. India is in the second position with four points and two wins in three.