Team India can’t leave it for late any longer

MS Dhoni, ODI &T20 skipper, stands next to Test captain Virat Kohli at the HPCA stadium in Dharamsala on Wednesday. (Source; Express photo by Daksh Panwar)

It’s autumn in Dharamsala. The weather is bright and sunny. Only a glacier or two glimmer on the crown of the Dhauladhars in the distance. On the foothills, at the HPCA Stadium, MS Dhoni stands in the middle overlooking a practice session. He, too, is in an autumn of his own.

By relinquishing the Test captaincy, he lost some of the aura. His recent form and the Bangladesh ODI series defeat has eroded his sheen. His strike rate has dropped and he isn’t the finisher that he once was. Unbothered by the climbing run-rate or the diminishing ‘balls to go’ countdown, Dhoni would nonchalantly seal games with his trademark six. Those are old tales.

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In his last ODI against Bangladesh last year, Dhoni batted at No.4. He scored 66 from 77 balls. India are now looking for a Dhoni-like finisher. It’s a futile search. There isn’t anyone in the present Team India set up who as nerves that are as steely as Dhoni’s. India needs to look for a fresh template when it comes to chasing targets or setting up imposing totals in the shorter format of the game. With the World T20 scheduled next year, India need to use the T20 and ODI series against South Africa to find peace with the harsh reality that they cannot leave it for too late.

There isn’t a Houdini at No.6 or No.7.

On this very venue five springs ago, Dhoni’s legend of being a escape artist gained credence. It was a do-or-die IPL match against Kings XI Punjab. The Chennai Super Kings needed 29 off the last two against the ‘home’ team, who appeared in control. But it was that time when if Dhoni was batting, only he would be ‘in control’. He would dictate the terms of engagement. You played his game, by his rules. And his rule of thumb was to take it down to the wire.

Years later, he would reveal his recipe to commentator and former first-class cricketer Mark Nicholas in an interview for ‘All Out Cricket’. “My aim is to leave it till the bowler and me are on level ground, i.e. to the point at which he is under as much pressure as me. Then we see who can handle it,” Dhoni had said.

We had a hunch all along what he does: he makes cricket into the 12th round of a professional boxing bout. He just confirmed our suspicions.

So, 29 of 12 balls to put Chennai in the semifinals. Dhoni was 24 of 20 balls, and lurking. Two hits to the fence and five hard-earned runs followed. Now, it was 16 off the last six. Bowler versus him. The 12th round. Dhoni’s territory.

Off the first ball, he smacked Irfan Pathan for four runs. Dhoni next ran two off a misfield and then unleashed two monstrous hits against the softened-up bowler to send him and Kings XI flying on the canvas. A week later, Chennai were the IPL champions for the first time. It was the high noon of his career. Next year, in 2011, India won the World Cup, another IPL trophy followed, the Champions League came in 2013. With every limited-overs triumph, his legend grew till it assumed mythical proportions. Then, almost announced, came the decline, the first signs of it.

Diminishing returns

Five days after Dhoni’s aforementioned interview was published on September 2 last year, India needed 17 runs off the last over against England at Edgbaston in a T20 match. Dhoni was batting on 14 off 12 balls. Again lurking. He hammered Chris Woakes out of the park, first ball. He stole 2 runs off the next, but refused a single on the third. It wasn’t a tailender at the other end, but Ambati Rayudu. It was clear that Dhoni believed in his own legend. He hit a four next ball. India needed five off the last two, but would fall short by three runs. Despite Dhoni hogging the strike.

Six months later, in the World Cup semifinal against Australia, he hung around for a run-a-ball half century. But that famous Dhoni charge never came. In the IPL too, he was struggling to finish the matches. Those big hits that he could call at will were eluding him. With the loss in the first ODI against Bangladesh in June came the acknowledgement. Knowing that he wasn’t finishing the job, he gave the responsibility to Suresh Raina and moved up the order. He became the run-a-ball batsman who would lay the platform for others to explode. Earlier, he was both anchor and finisher rolled into one, not he was just the former.

Steadying force

To be fair, with his fitness and running between the wicket, he is perhaps India’s best man to steady the innings.

While the extra man on the boundary makes it difficult to score the release shot, it gives him that extra gap to steal singles and doubles. But that still leaves India with the question: who is the next finisher?

Raina did well in the final ODI against Bangladesh, with a 21-ball 38, but can he do it on a consistent basis? On tracks that are quicker, and against the rising ball? Mind you, Dhoni was an exceptional puller of the ball. Another big requirement that the finisher faces is to summon the big hit when it is absolutely required. Often it’s assumed that if you can hit sixes, you can do the job. However, it’s the ability to time your sixes — something which Dhoni excelled at — which is the difference between a good and a great finisher.

Rohit Sharma, if the Indian team is willing to take a chance, could be another option. He has done it for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, having batted down the order. He can be asked do it again, at least in the T20 series against South Africa. In any case, since Ajinkya Rahane usually opens in the IPL and Rohit bats in the middle order, India don’t need to muddle their batting order much under this arrangement.

The Dhoni question still hangs, for T20s at least. Unlike ODIs where you have time to build your innings, T20s don’t afford you that luxury. Often a run-a-ball knock falls short of what is required, leaving too much for the batsmen to come. Especially if those who are coming next aren’t the Dhoni of old. Therefore, can MS reinvent himself? Will he fade away slowly yet brightly? The South Africa series should provide us with some answers.