M. S. DHONI A BETTER BATSMAN OR A BETTER CAPTAIN

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When you are as talented as M. S. DHONI is, it is difficult to stereotype your greatness. Many in the cricketing world have not been able to decipher his real contribution to Indian Cricket. He exploded into international cricket with a batting style nobody else possessed, he even had people following him as a style icon with long colored hairdos, his wicket keeping garnered a lot of attention initially (both positive and negative) and ultimately his stint as the leader of the pack, had a whole nation idolizing the kind of charisma this cricketing captain portrayed, on the field.

But after 12 years since he played his first game against Bangladesh, where he succumbed to a run out for a duck, he has the cricketing fraternity gawking at his success both as a captain and as a talented batsman.

The question thus arises if one of his qualities overpowers the other or not.

Initially drafted into the team as a wicketkeeper who could bat, at a time when the Indian batting order had no dearth of talent, , which at that point of time was the highest score by an Indian Wicket Keeper Batsman, a record which he himself took over when he scored 183(145) against Sri Lanka. It was also a record for the most no. of runs in the second innings of an ODI by a batsman. By April 2006 he became the No. 1 ranked batsman in the world in limited overs cricket. Both these innings though had come when he was promoted to the no. 3 spot in the batting order. In the coming years though MSD was batting down the order at 6 or even at 7, but even then he did not let his batting average to drop due to his consistent performances in numerous game saving situations. He reached the top spot on the ICC ODI rankings again in 2009 and stayed there for a while.

MSD’s biggest strength as a batsman has been to adapt to all the three formats of cricket admirably. He has the brute force to use the long handle and clear boundaries at will against even the best bowling attacks in both the T20’s and the ODI’S. And patience and calm are virtues on show when he has to play the waiting game in a nervous chase or in an innings rebuilding effort.

In the Tests he has shown the will to grit it out and get the runs in tough conditions in England, South Africa and Australia. His 224* against Australia in Chennai almost single handedly paved the momentum of the series which saw India whitewashing Australia 4-0. The fact that he is the 5th fastest to reach 8000 runs in international cricket speaks immensely of his credentials as a batsman, as he batted in the top 4 only in 17 per cent of his innings. Astounding fact that!

Although his achievements are not only with the bat he has in his hands but also with the mind he governs. His journey as an Indian Cricket Captain is awe inspiring in more ways than one. For a guy from a small town like Ranchi, at a time when the cricketing talent pool came from the bigger metro cities, to have the unwavering determination and a shrewd strategic brain on his shoulders was a revelation. He was fairly young in international cricket when he was laden with the responsibility of captaining a new bunch of Indian cricketers at the inaugural World T20 in South Africa in 2007. And the move certainly proved to be fruitful as not only he led India to its first world triumph after the ’83 World Cup, but also gave a glimpse of his brilliant leadership qualities and an instinct few can proclaim.

Dhoni’s bowling changes and field placements were unorthodox and took the oppositions by surprise. His move to give someone as inexperienced as Joginder Sharma two crucial overs in both semi final and final made everyone sit up and take notice of his out of the box thinking and his unflinching trust in his comrades.

India under his captaincy also secured the top spot in the ICC Test rankings and were joint holders of the golden mace in February 2010 along with Graeme Smith’s Proteas. His biggest moment as the Indian skipper came in the World Cup 2011 which took place in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. India lifted the 50 overs World Cup 28 years after they did the first time. Dhoni did not have a great tournament with the bat but did well as the leader. He had all his major batsmen firing throughout the tournament with Tendulkar, playing in his last world cup, at the pinnacle of his prowess. But as they say, ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’, and Dhoni did just that.

In a crunch situation in the final against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede, he promoted himself ahead of the in-form Yuvraj Singh. Not many were expecting the move and thus he caught Sri Lanka by surprise. His guts and his nonchalance was on display that night and performed when it mattered the most. An unbeaten innings of 91 and a match winning six over long on will be a memory every cricket fan would cherish forever. India also put their arms around the Champions Trophy in 2013 defeating England in the finals in their own backyard. Innumerable tri series and bilateral series wins and always making it to the top 4 of a major ICC event shows his appetite to win and an attitude to die for.

It’s a difficult thing to attribute one of his many talents as his reason to succeed, some would remember him for the way he ripped bowling attacks apart or when he dissected the gaps in the field like a seasoned surgeon. Some would be awestruck with his leadership abilities and his flair to get the best out of each and every individual. But one thing is for sure that there never has been and there never will be a talent as immaculate as MSD!

We hope we get to sing at the end of World T20 2016, ‘THAT’S THE WAY….MAHI WAY!’