Cricket Column: From measured violence to tsunami, Dhoni gives glimpse of his new avatar

In Pune, the new generation heroes got together and knocked up 200 runs to inspire the team to chase a target of 351 for a victory that seemed empyreal absurdity at the time when India were four down for a gloomy 63. In Cuttack, the vintage heroes rolled back time, after the new-age madcaps had lost the plot and hurried back to the dressing room, to put their struggle in the recent times to rest and turn the page into a peppy chapter of a brand new romance.
Last week was just awesome for Team India. What Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav did in the first ODI on Sunday, and what MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh got done in the second one on Thursday, was the sort of incredible, enchanting stuff folklores are composed of. The icing on the New Year cake for Indian fans was what Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony in Cuttack: it was only 75% of their potential. Obviously, the new man at the helm is not ready to relax; nor would he want the old warriors or the new knights to rest on the laurels.
No questions about Kohli’s right to feel upbeat and indulge in a bit of boxer-like boasting after chasing a 351-run target from an impossible situation and posting 381 from a gloomy position of just 25 for the loss of three wickets, including that of Kohli the bedrock, inside the first five overs. Nostalgia kicked up by the Dhoni-Yuvraj act in Cuttack had the irresistible elements that could keep us transfixed at the time it happened and a little beyond, but if we view things in the context of circumstances that helped the romance to take shape and eventually bloom into the 256-run, game-changing partnership, the sea of schmaltz would begin to retreat.
Yuvraj’s first four came off a short ball and there were more short-of-a-length deliveries thrown at him, most of which were pulled into the ropes. He had an uninspiring history of jumping awkwardly at such balls and getting out as he edged or mistimed. Not in Cuttack, on a pitch where the ball rose no more than hip-high and against an ordinary bowling attack. Stuart Broad could have done some damage, but he had been mysteriously left out. Yuvraj’s career-best 150 was impressive, but the time to stand up and clap is when the old warhorse could repeat his Cuttack act in the Champions Trophy on bouncier pitches in England against better bowlers.
It was pleasing to see Dhoni throwing the aggressive mindset out in the initial part of the innings. He is not the finisher he used to be and it’s a role he might find hard to emulate now. His limitations have been well documented and the rivals have had many looks at them. The role Dhoni now fits in is that of an accumulator, that of a guy who drops the anchor so the other bloke could do better than just blocking the ball, like Yuvraj did on Thursday, that of a man whose silent presence in the middle and slow but steady progress could get the rivals into the lurking fear of an explosion as the death overs near... That’s the way he’s going to last as long as he would like to. Not otherwise.
Dhoni was the ideal guy at No.5, especially when both the openers and Kohli himself got out inside the first five overs. The situation was like the one in the first ODI where Dhoni unwisely chose to play a role he shouldn’t have under the circumstances and perished, but in Cuttack he was patient, playing out two maiden overs bowled by Chris Woakes who had already sent KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli back to the dressing room.
Dhoni’s first four came in the 14th over, and one more in the 15th, which was followed by a period of quiet existence until the 22nd over that saw the third of his 10 fours. And then there was a steady flow of fours. The first six was hit in the 28th over, the second in the 37th and then the mighty 100m blitz in the 43rd to take him to 99 and eventually to the 10th century. Controlled aggression ideal for the occasion until then was dumped in the 48th over and Dhoni switched himself into a merciless mindset that produced three sixes in one over. That’s what he should look to do now: measured violence in the beginning that gathers momentum steadily to whip up a tsunami in the end.
The 75% show we got to watch was awesome. With the series under the belt, Kohli could look to fresh tactics and tricks to get the team put in that missing 25%. Such possibilities, plus a desperate push by the England team to pull one back, spice up today’s final encounter in the ODI series.
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The writer is a freelance contributor based in India. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman