The retirement bells for MS Dhoni in T20 cricket have started ringing loud and clear
It was the 2nd of April 2011 on that sultry Saturday evening when television sets across India rang with the words of Ravi Shastri announcing MS Dhoni's last ball six. No one can ever forget the night when the swashbuckling captain of the Indian cricket team rose to the occasion to bring home the World Cup after 28 long years.
But seven years down the line, things don't seem too cool for the man once called "Captain Cool".
Dhoni's aggression while maintaining decorum, modesty coupled with superstardom, ability to finish off games with ease - these were just a few of the many things that gained him popularity. Under his captaincy India won the first ever T20 World Cup in South Africa back in 2007. He even led India to the 2014 T20 World Cup final where they lost to Sri Lanka, and to the 2016 T20 semifinal where they lost to eventual winners West Indies.
But if you look at his entire career, his T20I stats have been kind of mixed. Dhoni has played 93 T20Is, of which he has captained 72. He has scored 1,487 runs with only two half centuries to his name and a highest score of 56.
While he strikes the ball at a rate of 127.09 and an average of 37.17, it's his performance in the last couple of years that has been questioned a lot. He is no longer the T20 batsman he used to be.
By all accounts, Dhoni has lost the Midas touch which he boasted of in his prime years. Nowadays, he usually takes 15-20 balls to read the conditions before striking. Coming in at the No. 6 position and wasting balls is highly unacceptable - especially going by the standards he himself had set earlier in his career.
Dhoni's wicket-keeping skills are still the best in the world; he has all but eliminated the follow through time at the point of stumping. He is also by far the fittest guy in the team, and his on-field advice to the present captain is also valuable.
However, his failures with the bat cannot be ignored any more. In the past one year, the top order of the Indian cricket team has been performing exceptionally well, which has somewhat masked Dhoni's waning batting performances.
He has lost the ability to hit the ball out of the park against the spinners, something that he could do easily in his prime years. This indirectly puts pressure on the players at the other end as the run rate keeps rising; he has not even been able to rotate the strike properly.
All of this has led to his exclusion from the T20 side for the tour to Australia and West Indies. The next T20 World Cup is in 2020, and the selectors need to seriously consider his position in the team so that ample time is given for grooming the likes of Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan.
Back in 2015, Dhoni was questioned about his inability to hit the ball as cleanly as he did in his early days. "It is a very short format," Dhoni had said. “Personally I feel I use a bit too much of my brain in this format. It is very important that I keep myself a bit free, and go and play my shots."
“A lot of times when I go in to bat, usually it is in the 16th or 17th over, or fourth or fifth over with four or five wickets down. I have that tendency to use my brain, ‘Okay let’s go to 130, that will be a good score.’ Depending on that I play a bit slow initially, and then look for big shots. It has happened quite a few times in the past, but in this format I believe what I should do is I should go in and play the big shots irrespective of what the scenario is. Because that’s what this format is all about.”
However, he has now started going against his own advice. These days, he plans his game in such a way that he settles himself in using the first few balls and has a go at the opposition towards the end. This kind of play might be okay in the ODI format but in the T20 format, where there is a shortage of overs, it is not suitable.
Is Dhoni really the person to bank on when you need 12-13 runs per over right from the word go? His performances in the last year don't seem to justify that.
"In T20s, MS Dhoni's role is at No. 4. He requires more time to get his eye in and then do the job," VVS Laxman said while speaking about Dhoni's role.
"I still feel it's time for MS Dhoni to give youngsters a chance in the T20 format. It will be an opportunity for a youngster to blossom and get confidence playing international cricket. He is definitely an integral part of ODI cricket," he added.
Given Dhoni's age, it might be true that he is on a terminal decline. Although captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri have backed him for his abilities as a keeper and a finisher till the 2019 ODI World Cup, it remains to be seen whether they back him for the 2020 T20 World Cup as well.
To a certain extent, India have been hamstrung by the lack of alternative finishers to Dhoni. But if they aren’t going to drop him (given his experience and captaincy), they need to utilize his abilities better and try a newer, younger alternative at the death. Hardik Panyda or Kedhar Jadhav, for example, could take up the pressure which will allow him to hit freely.
Will the helicopter, which seems to have shut down completely, rise once again from the ruins one last time? Dhoni has led the team for more than nine years, which is why everyone has kept their hopes alive that he shines one more time before hanging up his boots.