Why Mahendra Singh Dhoni Should Not be Blamed for his Slow Innings?

There is no doubt that the power-hitting capabilities of veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni are on the wane. Even though he had a fine Indian Premier League season for the reigning champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in which he had scored 455 runs, he is indeed struggling a bit.

But more importantly, those runs had come at a healthy strike rate of 150.66. However, he had played at number four or number five position for the Super Kings in the cash-rich league.

Having said that, there is a lot of difference between the IPL and International cricket. The issue is we solely compare the current Dhoni with his earlier version, which is a tad unfair and sheer injustice. He is not anymore the player he was, as a batsman, he is at the fag end of his career.

Dhoni power-hitting capabilities?

Speaking of his tortoise type knock in the second ODI, where he crawled to 37 runs off 59 balls, he didn’t have many options up his sleeve. The run-rate was touching 10 and there was also no ample support from the other end.

Furthermore, Dhoni needs more time in the initial stage of his innings, especially against the spinners. The problem was the same again, as it has been in the recent past, he was unable to rotate the strike, which eventually builds pressure, that too with a field spread.

Dhoni has won India many games while batting in the lower half but it would be asking too much from him to get the team over the line every time he goes out to bat after all he is a human.

Yes, the intent was missing from India’s run-chase, which was sad to notice. However, blaming Dhoni for a sole reason would be a bit unfair as no other middle or lower order batsman got going.

In fact, the middle order has remained India’s Achilles Heel for some time. Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and especially Virat Kohli has done the bulk of the scoring.

Literally, there is always an error 404 found if we search for the success of a number four batsman in the recent past. Thus, as the middle order line-up is not delivering the goods, the lower batting department simply succumbs under pressure.

India’s middle order woes has been a perennial problem:

There is no issue in losing, but India should not have gone down without a fight. The intent was missing after 25–30 overs, and you can’t afford to do that.

Being ranked number two side in the world, we expect India to fire at all cylinders especially when a team has their backs against the wall.

Yes, we can argue that the match was done and dusted, what was surprising to note was the fact India gave up so early in their run-chase.

Meanwhile, MS Dhoni also reached the landmark of 10,000 runs in the 50-over format. Out of the 12 batsmen. who have scaled the milestone, he is the only one with the average of above 50, with Kohli expected to join him soon.

Consequently, his impressive average is the testimony of the fact that he has remained unbeaten on numerous occasions. In fact, he has remained not out on 78 occasions, which is the most in the ODI format. Therefore, he has finished a lot of matches for India.

Moreover, he has batted at the number six position for most of his career. In fact, 75 percent of his runs have come at the same batting position.

We all know that it is not a cakewalk to bat lower down the order. You are always expected to bat in the topmost gear, whether it is setting up a target or chasing the given total.

Thus, India must find answers to their middle orders woes. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will not come up with the Miracle every day.