"The fifth bowler has scored more runs" - When MS Dhoni was worried about India's top-order failures after ENG vs IND 2014 Test in Manchester

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni was never one to shy away from the truth, and evidence of that came after the side's crushing defeat to England in the fourth Test at Manchester in 2014. With the five-match series tied at 1-1, the visitors produced a dismal batting performance in both innings of the fourth Test.

They fell to 8/4 in the first innings before Dhoni's 71 took them to a respectable 152. The second innings wasn't much better as India slipped to 66/6 before Ravichandran Ashwin's 46* took them to 161. Yet, the final result was a defeat by an innings and 54 runs and a 1-2 series deficit.

Talking about India's batting woes after the Manchester outing, Dhoni said in the post-match press conference (via ESPN Cricinfo):

"What is important is to put runs on the board. To some extent, Lord's and the performance of the eight, nine, ten and eleven so far in the series camouflaged the question of the top order not performing. But when you are playing with five bowlers, the fifth bowler actually has scored more runs for us."

He added:

"That actually puts pressure on, whatever the reason may be. May be a few of the batsmen are having a lean period at the same time. But overall we will have to put more runs on the board so that the bowlers can get the opposition out."

Unfortunately for Dhoni, his words had no impact on the Indian side as they lost the series finale by a worse margin of an innings and 244 runs, surrendering the series 1-3.

MS Dhoni retired from Tests in the same year

MS Dhoni's Test career did not last much longer after India's embarrassing series loss in England. The now 44-year-old played two Tests in India's following series in Australia before retiring from the format.

Virat Kohli took over as India's Test captain, and the rest is history as he became India's most successful Test captain.

Meanwhile, MS Dhoni finished his stellar Test career with 4,876 runs at an average of over 38 in 90 matches. Under him, India became the No. 1 Test side in the world at the end of the 2000s, following a hard-fought series win in New Zealand.

The champion wicketkeeper was part of India's last Test series win in England in 2007.

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Edited by Venkatesh Ravichandran