Dhoni under the scanner

A couple of days after former India batting great Sachin Tendulkar criticised MS Dhoni for ‘lack of intent’ in his innings of 28 off 52 balls against Afghanistan, former cricketer V V S Laxman also frowned upon the former Indian captain’s approach towards batting.

Even though Dhoni managed to get 16 runs in the final over and remained unbeaten on 56 off 61 balls, Laxman opined that the painfully slow approach and strike rate of the wicketkeeper-batsman could have been better at the beginning of his innings.

“Dhoni’s strike rate at the start of the innings was close to 45-50 and that really put the pressure on his team and his partner,” said Laxman, who added that Dhoni will ‘regret’ the way he started the innings.

VVS Laxman

While Dhoni’s batting style has been widely debated, Team India captain Virat Kohli has been quick to defend the stumper, stating that anybody can have ‘off’ days and that when the team needs an extra 15-20 runs in the end, Dhoni does his job well.

“Dhoni’s experience, eight out of 10 times, works for us. We have quite a few players who play instinctive cricket. He’s one guy who sends out a message about what the par score is on a pitch. If he says 265 is a good score on a pitch, we don’t aim for 300 and end up scoring 230. He’s a legend for us, and hopefully he’ll continue,” said Virat.

Seconding Virat’s opinion, former Indian captain and cricketer Shantha Rangaswamy states that Dhoni should be treated with utmost respect for the kind of ambassador he has been for the country.

“The strike rate of all those (read: Sachin and Laxman) who are critical about Dhoni today, was also on the decline during the later part of their careers. Dhoni might be a finisher, but now his role is completely transformed,” explains Shantha as she adds that Dhoni’s presence is important at the crease and he's playing according to the team's requirements.

Not just his batting, even Dhoni’s wicket keeping skills are being talked about. Apparently, his reflexes are not quite the same as earlier. And for the record, the former Indian captain conceded 9 byes in the match against West Indies.

Also, whenever he fails to deliver either with the bat or behind the stumps, fingers are pointed at his age for his omission. But former Indian cricketer and former Lancashire coach R.P. Singh states that a world-class player like Dhoni knows exactly how to read the game.

“Dhoni’s worth is like gold, and he’s the epicenter of the team. The calmness and serenity he brings to the team is beyond words. In fact, several young cricketers in the team draw inspiration from him,” shares Singh, adding, “Sometimes a cricketer can have a bad day in the field, but that doesn’t mean we should judge and question the player's talent and laurels.”

Experts speak

Ayaz Memon, Cricket expert and commentator
“Everybody is talking about his batting, but he’s also a wicket keeper and also the senior most member with a lot of experience. And in the last match he made a half century. He’s the second highest scorer after Virat Kohli. Obvioulsy he has struggled, in the match against Afghanistan, his batting was undistinguished. But who has clicked? Vijay Shankar? Has Jadhav looked better? Do we still know that Rishab Pant has performed better than Dhoni? I think no team in this tournament has had 100 percent success. So we all get a little too excited when it comes to our star players.

About his age: Now it’s too late, in the middle of the World Cup to think about age. This question should’ve been raised at before the WC. That time everybody was praising Dhoni and his performance. I think we all are becoming very knee jerk in our reactions.”

Syed Kirmani, Former cricketer
I’m a little surprised the way cricketers who have played under Dhoni's captaincy have criticised the way he paced his innings against Afghanistan and West Indies. Probably, they have not realised that Dhoni went into a situation where he had to hold one end steadfastly and save the slide. If he had continued his natural big hitting ability, he might have lost his wicket in the process, and believe me, we would have lost both matches against Afghanistan and West Indies.

A cricketer starts maturing in his abilities between the age of 28 to 40 years. There is no change in his reflexes, agility, behind the stumps right from the time he has started playing for India. Do not compare his agility, reflexes to the youngsters of today.

—With inputs from Bipin Dani