A leader raises his game up when he and his team is not doing well. This was seen in the third match of the ongoing India-New Zealand series when chasing 285 on an iffy pitch India were 48/2.
The captain MS Dhoni promoted himself and went on to score 80 in 90 balls. He gave a supporting hand to Virat Kohl who scored his 26th ton, a huge 154 not out to take India to a comfortable seven wicket win.
The situation was tense. New Zealand has a super bowling attack. The series was 1-1. In a five-match series the third match is very important if the series is squared so far.
The team had been announced for three matches only, and there were loud discussions as to whether Dhoni should be in the team at all, not just removed from captaincy. Dhoni promoted himself to 4, meaning that doing well acquires more significance.
Interestingly Dhoni himself said that his ability to rotate the strike was diminishing. As he was growing older the difficult job of being a finisher was becoming more difficult.
Even his detractors would acknowledge that the job of finisher was done splendidly by him for a long, long time. However, of late, it seemed to be becoming difficult to finish out the game.
His method of delay until the last possible moment and then finishing off with a couple of mighty shots seemed also to be becoming difficult.
During his supporting knock of 80 Dhoni passed the following milestones:
1-9000 runs in ODI being only fifth Indian to do so after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Azharuddin
2-Most 6s by any Indian in ODIs, crossing Sachin’s 195
3-Only the third keeper to reach 9000 runs after Sangakkara and Gilchrist
4-1st batsman to reach 9000 runs with 50 plus average, with Kallis being the earlier best with 45.68
Dhoni is the sixth fastest (in terms of number of innings played) to 9000 runs in ODI history with 244 innings. The leader on that list is Sourav Ganguly in 228 innings (only 16 more) and the four other illustrious names there are Sachin, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis.
Those who are above him on that list are all openers or no.3s and they are all legends of the game. This shows how big his achievement is.
The consistency is even more commendable considering that Dhoni bats at the middle or end of the innings where one doesn’t get the chance to settle in. One has to bat quickly and often with lower end batsmen.
Dhoni is unique. Only one other similar player in history of ODI cricket with similar ability – Michael Bevan. Bevan, with almost 7000 runs @53.58, is the only other player with similar fantastic record as a closer. Thats why he is considered so special. And so should Dhoni be.
Now all good things come to an end. It is increasingly clear that the role of a finisher is something very few can achieve and do so consistently. At 35 it is going to be almost impossible for Dhoni to do so with some degree of consistency.
However if he bats at 4 then he can contribute a lot to his team, especially with Mr Consistent Kohli at 3. We can see a relaxed Dhoni and a new Dhoni for two to three years. At 4 he may contribute to many more wins for his team.
Therefore I seriously feel that irrespective of the result of India-New Zealand series Dhoni should continue batting at 4.
It could conceivably be the beginning of something special.
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