Kolkata: Of late, there have been a lot of discussions and debates regarding the future of former skipper and wicketkeeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It might be true that he is not the same hitter anymore but his invaluable 45-run knock against Sri Lanka on Thursday showed why India’s most successful captain across all formats still has a lot left to offer.
Chasing a revised target or 231, India were cruising to a victory with openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma putting on a hundred run stand. But in a dramatic turn of events, they ended up losing seven wickets for just 22 runs in no time and were staring down the barrel. Then came Dhoni, who along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar scored a record 100-run partnership for the eighth wicket which guided India to a memorable win.
Although Bhuvneshwar was the one who stole the limelight with his maiden fifty in ODI cricket, MS Dhoni’s patient and gritty 45* from 68 balls deserves no less applause. The world knows him as, ‘Captain Cool’ and on Thursday, he demonstrated as to why his calmness is so very valuable to the team.
Watching batsmen fall at other end, the 36-year man from Jharkhand kept his calm and paved the way for one of India’s most famous wins in recent times.
Although Bhuvneshwar, who had begun slowly, assumed the responsibility of hitting the boundaries to ease the pressure, it was a calm MS Dhoni at the other end, who read the situation perfectly and anchored the chase, working the ball into the gaps for the quick singles and twos and held fort at the other end. While his innings was not all about clobbering the bowlers for fours and sixes, the calmness and the patience he displayed was indeed praiseworthy.
As a matter of fact, Dhoni holding fort at the other end allowed Bhuvneshwar to play his shots freely and at the end of the day, the man from Jharkhand was the unsung hero yet again. He now holds the record for the maximum number of unbeaten innings during chases (39) and his average in successful chases also has crept to 99.16, which is higher than his teammate and skipper Virat Kohli (97.68)
Yet, this isn’t the first time that the slam-bang right-hander has come up an innings uncharacteristic of him. Cricket fanatics would remember an ODI against Pakistan in Chennai when the Indian team had lost their top five batsmen for literally nothing on the board in just 10 overs and it was Dhoni who made the rescue act as he stayed unbeaten on a patient hundred and guided India to a decent total. Although India had ended up on the losing side, Dhoni’s judgement and patience had proved yet again as to why he has one of the best cricketing brains in the business.
There have been times in the past when Dhoni has been at the receiving end of a barrage of criticism and more often than not, he has answered them back with a bang. This time though, it wasn’t about fours and sixes, but he still did answer them back once again. Didn’t he?