The first time that I sat up and took notice of MS Dhoni was during a
training camp at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, in mid-2005.
He was batting in the nets at the BEML end of the ground with Ajit
Agarkar amongst the bowlers.
On what was a slow, low practice pitch, Dhoni looked quite comfortable
on the front foot, so I asked Ajit to test him with a bouncer. Ajit had a
very good bouncer that often surprised batsmen, especially on the
slower wickets.
He bowled a beauty. Not too short, rising to about Adam's apple height
over the right shoulder. Dhoni, unfazed, rocked back onto his back foot
and hit the ball as hard and high, in front of square, as I had ever
seen a ball struck. The ball rocketed up to hit the facia of the stand
about 50m above the playing field.
The sound of ball hitting bat, and ball hitting facia, seemed to be
simultaneous. It was one of the most audacious shots that I had ever
seen. Had it not hit the facia of the stand, it would have landed in the
Police Parade Ground, hundreds of metres away, on Link Road!
During that same camp, we had some sessions of simulated match practice
aimed at improving the team's ability to chase targets in One-Day
matches. The recent history in run chases was extremely poor. It soon
became apparent that Dhoni was one of the best ‘finishers' in this
format.
Tennis-ball grounding
Dhoni's grounding in tennis-ball cricket is obvious in the way he bats.
He has an inimitable and unorthodox technique. With his strength, he is
capable of hitting balls into places that only few others can conceive.
He is the best attacking player of the yorker I have ever seen. I once
saw him hit a James Anderson yorker straight back over the bowler's head
for six. It was awesome.
Other things that I soon learnt about Dhoni was he really understood the
game, he had a calm confidence about his own ability and was not
bothered with false modesty. If he thought he could do something, he was
not scared to say so. Not in an egotistical way; just forthright. This
was also unique to Dhoni and I found it refreshing.
It was clear to me that Dhoni was a captain in the making. Whenever I
thought of Dhoni, I was reminded of the quote from Bhagavad Gita, ‘It is
better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation
of someone else's life with perfection.'
At the time, I thought that Dhoni's destiny was to lead India to the
pinnacle of world cricket. I still believe that. He has led them to a
T20 and 50-over World Cup victory. Test cricket has not been as easy to
tame.
Records, good and bad
Dhoni's overall win record of 46 % in Tests, as captain, is not bad. His
home record of 66% wins is excellent, but the glitch in his record is a
win ratio of 26% from 19 Tests away from the comforts of home.
This record has been hammered on recent tours to England and Australia;
probably the two toughest tours for Indian players brought up on the
batting-friendly strips at home.
What bothered me most about this tour of Australia is that Dhoni looked
tired and bereft of ideas, at times, during the Test series. His batting
confirmed it as he appeared to be struggling to make the mental effort
required to tackle the persistent Australian bowling.
This set the tone for the rest of his charges, who often looked resigned to the inevitable, long before the game was decided.
Has the demand of having the top job in the three formats, plus the IPL,
jaded Dhoni to the point where he wants to give up on his ‘Dharma' of
leading India to the top?
Not only does Indian cricket need him to see out his destiny, but the
game in a broader sense and Test cricket in particular, needs him. No
one else appears to have his combination of charisma, calmness and
strength of character to bring together the right people, on and off the
field, to make this happen.
If you need any further confirmation, just ask corporate India.
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