India are missing Zaheer Khan dearly against England in the first Test at Lord's.
No wonder India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was seen pulling off his gloves and taking the ball on the second day of the 100th Test between the two countries at the prestigious Lord's cricket ground.
It was during the session that the India skipper took to bowling when a few overs were left for the new ball to be taken. And Rahul Dravid was seen taking Dhoni's place behind the wicket.
The move was seen by many as a means of saving the Test and has surprised the former cricketers.
Kapil Dev told Headlines Today that he was "surprised to see Dhoni bowl".
"Dhoni has made mockery of Test cricket by bowling (himself). This is not acceptable that on the second day of the Test match, you can't do this," Kapil added.
Kapil who never minces words was also scathing about Zaheer Khan suffering from hamstring injury.
"Zaheer is responsible for this. He has put the team in trouble. He should have known his fitness and tested his fitness levels before returning to test cricket," he fumed.
"It's really tough to bowl 20 overs a day in Test cricket. Zaheer is responsible for this. He has killed the possibility of India winning this Test match," he added. Zaheer suffered a hamstring strain in his right thigh on the first day of the Lord's Test.
However, former captain Sourav Ganguly favoured of Dhoni using himself as a bowler. He said, "Dhoni is playing with five bowlers. He made the most of his resources."
Dhoni had to give rest to his regular bowlers and his bowling worked as breather for others and created chances as well, Sourav said.
An odd decision it maybe but it certainly will go down the history as an interesting one as it featured during the 2000th Test in the history of cricket.
