Fourth consecutive series win is down to MS Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

This is definitely a time for celebration for millions of fans. After a wait of 27 long years, we have won a bilateral ODI series against Australia. What a memorable Diwali gift!

Luckily, in this series our top order batsmen played a very mature and responsible role. Today, when Virat Kohli got out as a result of confusion between Rohit Sharma and himself, Rohit literally took the onus of this great loss on his shoulders. He played the most important innings of his life. Also, Dhoni contributed immensely by making 62 runs in just 38 balls. That is why MS Dhoni has achieved the status of the best finisher of the world.

But today what I intend to highlight is that Dhoni has got tremendous composure. When Faulkner was looking adamant at the crease and our bowlers seemed helpless, Dhoni remained cool. The way he was seen consulting Bhuvneshwar in the dying overs and monitoring every ball, it was amazing. He was changing field placements constantly. Many believe that he also infuses a great level of spirit among the whole team.

Yuvraj could not contribute much in this series. The bowlers, particularly Bhuvneshwar, have not been able to give the required results. But Dhoni has always displayed his trust on Bhuvneshwar. Even Vinay Kumar had not bowled well in this series but Dhoni backed him for today’s match. Unfortunately, Vinay did not bowl well today. Still, the way Dhoni deals with adversity is really amazing.

Among the victory celebrations, we should not undermine the role of Dhoni. His captaincy and calmness under pressure has been a major factor. The way he leads by example is really worth noting. He has always played crucial innings for his country – especially at the hour of need.

First came the Champions Trophy, then the West Indies tri-series, followed by Zimbabwe tour and now this win against Australia. Seldom in the history of Indian cricket have we seen four consecutive series wins – out of which three were away from home!

Another very important factor was that these wins were achieved without stalwarts like Gambhir, Sehwag, Zaheer and Sachin. The youngsters have managed to repay the faith of Dhoni – but the captain himself deserves some credit for this. The way he has motivated his team has been brilliant.

In this cricket mad country, everyone prays that MS Dhoni keeps going from strength to strength and leads us to another World Cup triumph. That would be the ultimate achievement! Hats off to MS Dhoni, we are proud of him.