India finally tasted victory in this marathon series against South Africa when they defeated the visitors in the 2nd ODI by 22 runs at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Wednesday.
If some of you missed out on the action then you must know it was almost a one-man show as Mahendra Singh Dhoni was in the house in full might.
India veteran tweaker Harbhajan Singh praised his skipper, who is an epitome of calmness. India were in all sorts of trouble when they lost their top batsmen early in the game. MS Dhoni made sure that he was there till the last ball of the innings. Later his captaincy skills came into play when South African batsmen came out to chase in a wicket that acted pretty weirdly.
"Dhoni was fantastic with his captaincy. The wicket was nice to bat on and the ball was turning only when you bowled it slower," Harbhajan told the reporters after the second ODI on Wednesday.
"Here and there a few sixes went but we kept the pressure on and Axar took two crucial wickets. We felt we were 30 runs short and Dhoni said in the huddle that if we kept the energy up and saved 25-odd runs we could do it."
Harbhajan Singh, who replaced the injured Ravichandran Ashwin in the second ODI, was also instrumental in adding some of crucial runs towards the end of the Indian innings. Later, when Dhoni threw the ball at him, he picked up a couple of crucial wickets as well. Initially, he proved to be really economical but later he was taken for some runs.
But it does not matter. What matters in the end is the result and that went in India's favour in the second ODI in Indore. MS Dhoni's heroics with the willow and the spinners powered India to draw level in the five-match ODI series.
