Sachin Tendulkar has become the recent victim of online trolling, with fans leading a vitriolic campaign against him for his statements on Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s limpid performance during India's jolting World Cup clash against Afghanistan in Southampton.

Expressing disappointment at the team’s slow batting display, Tendulkar said the middle-order batsmen, including Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav, lacked positive intent. After all, this was the first time India’s top-order failed in the tournament although skipper Virat Kohli scored 67 as the Gulbadin Naib-led side restricted the two-time champions to a below-par 224 for eight.

“I felt slightly disappointed, it could have been much better. I was also not happy with the partnership between Kedar and Dhoni, it was very slow. We batted 34 overs of spin bowling and scored 119 runs. This was one area where we didn’t look comfortable at all. There was no positive intent,” Tendulkar was quoted as saying by India Today.

When Dhoni had walked in during the 27th over, his jaunty gait was met with rapturous cheers that turned into boos in a matter of 75 minutes. In a painstakingly slow innings of 28 runs in 52 balls, Dhoni’s formula had clearly flopped. At one point the tension was threatening to boil over and when Rashid stumped him, his departures was actually met with relief and joy. People wanted to watch Hardik Pandya play instead.

It now seemed that Afghanistan had managed to beautifully exploit India’s only weakness. If it wasn’t for Mohammad Shami, whose last over hat-trick flipped the script, coupled with legendary death over bowling by Jasprit Bumrah, who knows, history would've been scripted that night.

In Tendulkar’s words, "A senior player Dhoni should have taken charge as Jadhav’s batting was hardly tested in the tournament." The Maharashtra batsman had faced just eight balls (against Pakistan) in the only tournament before the encounter against Afghanistan.

“Kedar Jadhav was under pressure, he had not had an outing up until now. He needed someone to take charge of the situation early on but that did not happen.Both Kedar and Dhoni were not able to play at the required strike rate that they would have wanted,” he had said.

And while many tongues were set wagging after Dhoni’s disappointment, it is Tendulkar in particular who has come under the direct line of fire. His comments did not go too well with die-hard fans and Dhoni loyalists, who have come down on him heavily and accused him for indulging in imperialist banter.

This hate campaign against the Master Blaster has spread like wildfire on Twitter, with people trolling him ruthlessly in an apparent display of their support for MSD. Soon enough comparisons between the greats started to pour as well.

For me Dhoni>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Sachin Admit or die — SANIA(Am sorry Aman)✨✨ (@Twinklingsania) June 24, 2019

@msdhoni is the King of cricket!! Sachin played only for self and trying to fit in his looser son in team India now. Height of nepotism! — Prime86 (@prime861) June 25, 2019

Pic 1 : Sachin about missing his 200Pic 2 : Dhoni about missing his 100One said disappointed and upset for missing his miletone.The other said it's doesn't matter for him whether he get 100 or not. pic.twitter.com/79Rnd816g3 — #theCSKguy (@whistIepodu) June 24, 2019

1) audience watching MS Dhoni : The untold story2) audience watching Sachin: A billion dreams pic.twitter.com/FybWGp9m17 — Neeche Se Topper (@NeecheSeTopper) June 24, 2019

The same man that won you the World Cup which you couldn't win in your whole career with one of the best Indian players around. Sachin acting like he was some big hitter, man used to struggle in his 90s. Someone should pull up his strike rate when he's been in the 90s‍♂️ #Dhoni pic.twitter.com/hCVQ5aBI9h — Nim (@Nirmal_A) June 24, 2019

Sachin Runs in 2003 and 2011 Worldcup finals combined : 22 RunsDhoni's Runs in one Worldcup final:91 Runs — . (@_cleanbowled) June 24, 2019

With all due respect, @sachin_rt Sir, everybody seen that pitch was reacting very slowly and ball was not coming to the bat properly. I am not saying that dhoni played very well but i must say again that nobody can teach what is @msdhoni's job and how to do it. #CWC19 #INDvAFG — A 2.0 🇮🇳 🚩 (@AStrangeSoul) June 24, 2019

Mumbaikars have always been anti Dhoni. be it Sachin, gavaskar, manjrekar all of them don't like Dhoni. may be the epicenter of cricket has been shifted from Mumbai to rest of India that hurts these guys. Dhoni is a legend & he will bounce back. — Rajan singh (@Rajansi74877574) June 23, 2019

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