India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an enigmatic character. He is unique in the way that he is wildly popular and strangely opaque at the same time.
We all know what he has done but sometimes struggle to decipher his thinking; the most famous of which was during the 2011 World Cup where he continued to back the out-of-form Piyush Chawla during the first half of the tournament instead of the more experienced Ravi Ashwin, stating Chawla needed more confidence and so should be persisted with as Ashwin could walk in any moment and bowl well.
That’s ‘MS Logic’ for you. But whatever he has done on the field has worked. And spectacularly well. You don’t clinch the World Cup, World T20, Champions Trophy and the No. 1 Test ranking by fluke. Nor do uncertain individuals plunder more than 9,000 ODI runs. He is the most successful India captain in history and one of the all-time greats of limited overs cricket.
But over the past few seasons, the aura had started to diminish. Ever since he gave up Test cricket during the 2014 tour of Australia and India found an aggressive new leader in Virat Kohli, pressure has mounted on Dhoni in limited overs cricket. With the Indian team playing a refreshing brand of cricket in Tests, Dhoni’s well-set ways in coloured clothing have come under increased scrutiny.
But instead of folding under pressure, Dhoni has made the best of the situation and has further cemented his spot in the team, if that was possible. India have a superb top order in the ODI format, with of Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli capable of scoring at a high rate against any side. Their bowling has also gained some muscle with seamers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami able allies to spin twins Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
ODI Series/Tournament win for MS Dhoni as Captain.
— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) October 29, 2016
2 - ICC Trophies
1 - Asia Cup
3 - Tri-Series
18 - Bilateral Series
Total - 24#INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/QtHZ5Yptm0
There is no shortage of athletic fielders and the team’s looks good to mount a serious challenge in next year’s Champions Trophy. What they clearly don’t have is a replacement for the keeper Dhoni. In fact, there isn’t anyone even half as good as Dhoni in India at the moment.
That is not an exaggeration. Even in the Test arena, Wriddhiman Saha has only now managed to gain some foothold despite being part of the set-up for more than five years. In white-ball cricket, the options are even fewer. Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel and Naman Ojha have been given a few chances but none of them have threatened to take Dhoni’s spot.
Even regular batsmen who have donned the gloves in the hope of making it to the team – like Sanju Samson and Robin Uthappa – have gone nowhere. So a decade after his debut, the 35-year-old Dhoni is still by far the best wicketkeeper-batsman in the country.
What has made Dhoni’s position more secure is the change in his batting position. In the ODI series against New Zealand, Dhoni pushed himself up to No 4 and was clear about the motive behind the move. He admitted he was struggling to rotate the strike lower down the order, especially during chases, and batting higher up provided him more freedom and also gave the team a chance to find the next ‘enforcer’.
For the undisputed champion of chases to say his finishing was losing its touch is big. But Dhoni hadn’t given up and he was a revelation batting at No 4, making match-winning contributions of 41 and 80 against the Kiwis. Dhoni revealed he had been asked by team management to play more freely from now on and I believe he will continue to bat higher up the order, where there is less pressure on him.
Players like Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey and Axar Patel can play anywhere in the lower order and those out of the team due to fitness issues – like Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan – bat at the top. So Dhoni can now make the middle order his own. He is still one of the fittest players in the team and can bring out the big shots any time he wants. Granted, his finishing skills might have diminished but he still the one of the most valuable players in limited overs cricket.
And since there isn’t even a half-decent replacement for him on the horizon, it seems like Dhoni will be around for some time. India need to plan for the 2019 World Cup and, at considering his age, Dhoni might not seem to fit in that mix but, that said, we are almost at the end of 2016 and the super gloveman is still delivering.
With Dhoni finding a new role while batting in 50-over cricket, he might be able raise his game even higher. And if that happens, Kohli will have to wait for a very long time for his destiny of the captaincy.
Because when he is on fire, you just can’t beat Dhoni.
