MS Dhoni: The legend without replacement in One Day Internationals
A man who divides opinions more than any other player at the moment is our captain cool, MS Dhoni.
The finisher of games, who seemed to have lost his touch in recent matches, came back with a bang in the recently concluded tour of Australia in the ODI series. He is already a legend. He already has his name recorded in history books.
If he were to retire tomorrow, no one would question his contribution to Indian cricket. But he just goes on and on. He is arguably the best finisher in the world.
However, apart from his exploits as a batsman, he has unmatched cricketing brain and agility behind the stumps. Virat Kohli has himself said in an interview that he has not seen a better cricketing brain.
# The Batsmen
Dhoni started his career playing at no.3, then played mostly at no.6 and 7. However, he has also shown the ability to play at no. 4 and 5. With the World Cup approaching, India are still not sure about the middle order. In such a case, what better than to have than MS Dhoni who can play anywhere in the middle order. He can also be floated to whatever position is required. If the first couple of wickets have fallen early and there is a need for someone to not give away his wicket, send Dhoni at 4. If the game is as good as won, send the lesser experienced players like Rayudu or Karthik or Jadhav ahead of him. He can bat wherever you want him to and perform well.
He is not the most technically sound batsman. But isn't this how he has popularised the 'helicopter shot'. Before that, the usual response to a yorker was to somehow block it out or hope that you under edge it to third man or fine leg. However, now batsmen can nonchalantly try a helicopter shot and hit a yorker convincingly. Dhoni uses his wrists to manoeuvre the ball into gaps and is undoubtedly the fastest player when running between the wickets. And his power cannot be undermined at all. He is one those batsmen whose mishits clear the boundary with ease.
As a finisher, he has proved enough. No cricket fan can forget his innings in the 2011 World Cup Final when he came to bat ahead Yuvraj Singh who was almost a confirmed man of the series and scored a brilliant 91 of 79 balls and of course hit the winning 6. Another memory that any Indian cricket buff will remember is the 4th ODI against Australia in February 2012. India were chasing 270 with Gambhir contributing 92 at the beginning. Then Dhoni and Raina took India close with a partnership of 61, but Raina perished in the 47th over. Then Dhoni kept his calm as usual and took the game into the final over with 13 runs still required. The tension in the Indian dressing room was high, but Dhoni hit a monstrous 112 meter six of the third ball to ease nerves and took India home safely. With his ability as a finisher, he has brought to the table two things; firstly, taking the match into the final over and secondly, to finish it off with a six. He has said on multiple occasions that he likes on take games to the wire while chasing is because in overs number 48, 49 and 50, the pressure on the bowling team is equally high and they are also likely to make mistakes.
However being a good batsman can make you a legend, but the focus here is on why he is a 'legend without replacement'. He brings such aspects to the game that arguably, no one, at least in the Indian cricketing scenario is capable of bringing. A unique way of keeping wickets and a unique way of reading the game.
# The Wicket-Keeper
Dhoni may not be the most brilliant person behind the stumps, like a Gilchrist or a Boucher. But everyone has some limitations and if not then one would not be human. He has almost patented the flick runouts where he collects the ball a little ahead of the stumps and then flicks the ball in the same motion onto the stumps. He has also started the trend of removing one glove while keeping, on the last ball of a match. These tricks show that the way he thinks about cricket is on a higher level than his peers.
Dhoni’s stump mic chatter is very well known now and shows his reading of the game. In the first one day international against New Zealand, Dhoni’s instructions led to a couple of wickets. He asked Kuldeep Yadav to bowl from behind the bowling crease. The next ball Yadav followed this advice and it resulted in Dhoni whipping the bails off with Lockie Ferguson’s foot on the line. Then, a few deliveries later, he again told Yadav that Trent Boult would just keep blocking the ball and that he should bowl from around the wicket because it would not spin from over the wicket. Not hard to guess what happened the next ball. Yadav bowled from around the wicket, Boult defended as predicted by Dhoni and edged it to Rohit Sharma in the slips.
The kind of stumpings that he affects can only be termed as ‘supersonic’. Even if the batsmen lifts his foot for a fraction of a section, just to maintain his balance, Dhoni whips the bails off. Recently this was evident from the wicket of Peter Handscomb in the 2nd ODI against Australia, Ferguson's wicket in the 1st ODI against New Zealand and especially clear from Ross Taylor's dismissal in the 2nd ODI.
As soon as he underperforms for a few matches, there are calls for him to retire. Dhoni’s value will be completely understood when he retires. When a person combines the attributes of MS Dhoni, you get a good batsman, a decent wicketkeeper and a brilliant tactician. He may not perform every match with the bat, but he surely contributes whenever he is on the field. A legend of Indian cricket and one who definitely cannot be replaced.