3 reasons why Dhoni was better in the IPL than in the England ODI series

Having begun the ODI series with a comprehensive win, India faltered in the last two ODIs to give away the series to the more deserving English side. Before the series, everyone had expected nail-biting encounters between the top-ranked ODI teams. What they got to witness instead was a one-sided affair for most of the ODI series. There were many reasons that pinned India's down. But one of them that attracted more glares than the others was Dhoni's offbeat batting.

Coming in at number 5 in the last 2 ODIs, Dhoni could not quite get the Indian innings going despite spending a significant amount of time at the wicket. While it is something that can happen to anybody on a given day, what led to him being subjected to severe criticism was his lack of intent. In fact, in the second ODI at Lord's, the fans booed him from the stands as he seemed reluctant to go for the big shots even when the required run-rate was slipping out of control.

Dhoni's inability to up the run-rate shows up in his batting statistics for the ODI series. Getting to bat in two innings, he could muster only 79 runs at a poor strike-rate of 63.2. And both of these innings came at times when India was in dire need of big shots. Given the rate at which he scored, both his innings pretty much sucked the momentum out of India's game which added to the fury of the fans. Dhoni was not alone to struggle but, no one looked as helpless as him throughout the series.

While it is easier said than done, we must pause and look out for the reasons that may have withheld Dhoni from going big unlike what we witnessed in the IPL when he was playing for CSK. A quick analysis indeed yields a few reasons as to why he might have opted batting in an uncharacteristic way which perhaps cost India the series.

Without much ado, let's look at three reasons that must not miss any critic's analysis of Dhoni's failure in the ODI series when contrasted with his success in the IPL.

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#3 Unreliable lower order

Hardik Pandya needs to find some consistency in batting

India, undoubtedly, has no other dependable batsman when it comes to lower middle-order than Dhoni himself. Hardik Pandya may seem as one but, he is not quite the batsman that the team can bank on for seeing the innings through or notching up big scores.

Although there have been glimpses of the maturity that one hopes to find in a reliable lower-order batter in Pandya's batting, he has really not upped his game in a way that the team wishes for. Naturally, in the absence of a batsman who Dhoni can rely upon to take the innings forward, he has to restrain himself from playing big shots and therefore taking the risk of losing his precious wicket.

In contrast to India's lower middle-order, CSK had a couple of more seasoned players in the form of Bravo and Jadeja. Quite naturally, Dhoni could get himself in and then look for the flourish in the IPL matches. He had covers for his wicket who could see an innings through as well as provide that late flourish.

#2 The Shorter the game the lesser the price of a wicket

Dhoni was consistently taking risks in IPL 2018

One often-ignored fact when one contrasts Dhoni's success in the IPL with his failure in the ODI series is that T20 is a shorter game. As such, the price on a batsman's wicket is lesser than it is in an ODI, especially for a player like Dhoni, who is not a top-order batsman. In Dhoni's case, he perhaps found it easier to risk his wicket in the IPL as even if he had gotten out, there would not have been many overs for CSK's lower order to see through.

It is altogether a different scenario in ODIs for him. He has often been found taking games deeper and then trying to go for the shots. This has served the purpose of shielding the lower order from a considerable number of overs and ergo, saving the innings from an early finish. While this strategy has been useful for him numerous times in the past, this is not fetching him the desired results now.

#1 England's bowlers

England bowlers had a measure of Dhoni throught the series

England bowlers were on target throughout the series, especially against MS Dhoni, who of late has given many a bowlers a whiff of his batting weaknesses. The perfection of their plan against Dhoni was matched by their execution of it. Although everyone in the middle-order found it tough to sustain the relentless line and length of the English bowlers, Dhoni's struggle was more apparent, maybe because he played longer innings trying to fight his blues.

That Dhoni can easily send full balls soaring into the sky is a well-known fact. But, when it comes to facing short and good balls, he has been vulnerable of late. England tried to work him up on this very aspect of his game and their efforts yielded results too. Dhoni failed to launch an attack against them and was limited to his prods.

In the IPL, in almost all of the innings that he played like his usual self, the bowlers were off target against him, bowling way too many full balls. The bowlers who bowled wide yorkers or good length deliveries were more successful than others in restricting him. If Dhoni has to turn things around, he needs to work out his batting against good length deliveries.