M.S Dhoni - Don’t finish “The finisher”until he decides to!!!
At first, I would like to mention that, I am not an M.S. Dhoni fan in fact, till recent times I was criticizing his heroics and also people worshiping him. Off late, I started analyzing all his innings and his approach towards the game of cricket and felt like penning down my appreciation to this great player the world has ever seen.
I criticized his struggle to rotate the strike, over defending spinners and fast bowlers, attacking only in the death overs, winning the match in last over when match could have been finished much earlier, and finally not chasing victory when required run rate goes beyond 15 runs per over. Whenever his diehard fans glorified his stumping, back flip throws, catching and running between the wickets, my only feeling was, this is over hyping of a player.
After all these hatred, I started analyzing his approach and the astute mind behind his approach to every situation. When Dhoni started his career, he did not bat this way. He was a fearless, flamboyant player who knew to bludgeon the ball irrespective of the situation. Slowly, responsibility started creeping in due to his significant contributions both as a batsman and as a wicket keeper. After Syed Kirmani and Nayan Mongia, India finally found a wicket keeper who could contribute even with the bat. Otherwise in Indian batting line up, tail-enders were counted from wicket keeper on wards.
He was made captain of a young Indian team for the first T20 world cup, a team that went on to win the cup. Responsibility brought success and success brought more responsibility. With the added responsibility, Dhoni started curbing his natural instincts and aggressive game, because a leader needs to lead by example. A single rash shot could be seen by his younger teammates as the way to play and might be followed, which could lead to disaster. So he added control and restricted his aerial shots in the process of maturity. In spite of having the most lethal attacking game, Dhoni’s astute mind, thought of the team and its success on priority. Dhoni was never good at strike rotation, but it never came under the radar as he used to play odd risky shots which would boost his strike rate and the team’s run rate. But now considering our middle order and lower order vulnerability, after Yuvaraj singh left the scene, he has blocked himself from taking odd risks and keeps himself ready for that final launch only in death overs. What comes out is a scrappy looking initial innings and the flashes of old Dhoni visible only in the death overs. If he succeeds, everyone praises him and hopes this version of Dhoni continues, if not, all jump in to criticism.
Dhoni is an excellent mathematician and logician which makes him the magician he is. For sure, this man knows what his abilities and weaknesses are, based on which he assess the situation of the match and tunes his game. According to me, while chasing, he doesn’t want to rely on someone else to finish, as he will not be sure of the outcome, and hence, wants to stay in the crease till the end and then go for the kill only in the last over. This approach has brought so much of success to him and the country, instead there is nothing wrong in his approach. Even then, there are few drawbacks with his approach in case he gets out or he is not able achieve the target as bowlers are able to read his game. But fortune always favors the brave and I firmly believe that even today Dhoni would succeed 8 out 10 times in such situations.
While coming to his jaded way of playing when the required run rate goes beyond 15 runs, I feel he assesses who the opponent bowlers are, his strength against them and finally takes a call on whether it’s realistic to achieve the target. Based on this precise calculation, he plays those boring innings instead all of us get puzzled as to what is Dhoni playing for? Whoever follows Dhoni, will definitely will know that this man doesn’t play for records, average etc. and no one plays for losing. Then what is he doing in the middle? He utilizes these matches for the required ‘match practice’ and ensures that the team doesn’t get humiliated with a loss, as that could cause a demoralizing effect to the team. So the only reason for such an approach could be to keep the team moral high and also to get better match practice so that he can contribute in a better manner to the team’s cause in the coming matches.
When I rationally thought about all these criticism, these are the answers I could find for the fading, booed, hated Dhoni.
So how to revive the M.S Dhoni, whom the opponents envied and Indians worshiped. Only way is to take the responsibility hat from his head and allow this natural stroke maker to play the aggressive way he wants. Has he lost that mojo of playing, NO!!! He has already answered that in IPL 2018, where he showed that none of his attacking skills are diminished. It’s only that pressure of being the sole warrior in the Indian lower middle order which is causing us to see this version of M.S Dhoni.
My only request to Mr. Virat Kohli and Mr. Ravi Shastri is, at least now for the left over time of this legend, allow him to bat at Number 3 or 4 and express the way he wishes to. I, as a cricket fan, truly believe that, the old charismatic Dhoni will return if you allow this to happen. He is still the safest and fastest player behind the stumps. If his batting is back to the old vengeance, no one is going to stop India from lifting 2019 world cup, which is the need of the hour.
Some section of Indian media is only hungry for news, hence it’s behind his failure to criticize him and eventually put his career to an end. Once he does that, they will run the show again on glorifying his achievements for another set of months, which is the saddest part. This man has set a benchmark for wicket keepers in India, with Indian wicket keepers need to be an all-rounder and not just a keeper anymore. Indian team has won us T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup, No.1 Position in Tests, Champions Trophy and many more under his captaincy. He is not only a legend of Indian cricket but also world cricket. So please let this legend hang his boots on his own terms.
A timely sunset with a rising moon will bring a ray of light, but an untimely sunset will only bring darkness to the world. So let at least the moon rise, before this SUN sets.
Want to hear one more time “Mahi maar raha hai”….