It might be six years on from India’s World Cup 2019 semifinal loss to New Zealand, but it remembers an intensely memorable loss given the feeling of so close yet so far that followed it.
India’s doomed chase after a flurry of early wickets found some late legs, but it always evaded them as MS Dhoni couldn’t get the job done in what would prove to be his last international match.
One of the most striking moments from that match was when Dhoni, with 52 runs needed off the last 31 deliveries of the innings, opted not to swing at a ball outside his off-stump delivered by Lockie Ferguson. Fans were bewildered by the former Indian captain’s choice to leave in such a situation, and it is something which still comes up in videos on social media as a key moment within that loss.
The bowler on the day was pacer Ferguson, who spoke up about that delivery all these years later.
“I can’t remember what they were needing to chase at the time, but I knew they had to score a few runs,” he said in an interview with Crictracker. “The plan was to bowl and see if MS would undercut it, and he left it. So I was surprised because naturally, when you’re bowling, you’re trying to restrict runs, then it’s nice when a batter leaves it.”
India were down six wickets at that point in their innings, but with Ravindra Jadeja going all guns blazing at the other end, it might have been a decision made to hand over the strike to the all-rounder for the next over without taking a risk.
Dhoni hit same ball for six next over: Ferguson
However, Jadeja would lose his wicket a couple of overs later, putting pressure onto India’s legendary wicketkeeper to try and take the team home. Ferguson would return to bowl the 49th over, and a very similar delivery was carved over backward point for six by Dhoni – something Ferguson hasn’t forgotten either.
“But I think the next over, the first ball, I tried again, and he just got it over the boundary for six. So the plan almost worked the second time as well,” explained the New Zealand fast-man. “But it was nice to get him out that game and, of course, get across the line in the semi-final.”
Two balls after that six, Dhoni would be run out by a matter of centimetres after Martin Guptill pulled off one of the most sensational pieces of ground fielding in the history of World Cup cricket, a one-handed pick-up and throw from the outfield that nailed the stumps on the full and ran out Dhoni.
Years later, those two pieces of cricket remain etched in the collective cricket memory of Indian fans. How different things could be if those two moments just went a touch in India’s favour.