Dhoni and the art of captaincy

The most valuable player in this season’s IPL has been Mahendra Singh Dhoni. You may be attracted to Chris Gayle because of his striking power, but he can’t be match-winner in certain circumstances. You might have watched Chris Gayle’s splendid innings of 175* against Pune Warriors. How did he do it? Since RCB was batting first, he had no pressure and therefore took his chances. In contrast, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has got the capability of winning matches from tougher situations and that makes him the most valuable player. For instance, he played an important role in Super Kings’ victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He has the knack of handling the pressure while chasing. He lost his partners regularly, but he kept his cool and took the Super Kings to a thrilling win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.

First, he has specific plans for each of the batsmen. At the outset, he tries to read the batsman’s mind, and then shuffle his bowlers. Chris Morris, for example, bowled the penultimate over against Kings XI, while Bravo bowled the last-over. MS Dhoni realized Chris Morris has the ability to bowl yorkers and therefore he decided to go with Morris. Morris too responded to his captain by bowling a superb last-ball in the 19th over to maintain the pressure on Kings XI.

Also, MS Dhoni has been aggressive in nature in this season’s IPL. He constantly attacks the batsmen with two slips, and a man at unorthodox position in leg-side. Even for a fast-bowler, he has a man at short-fine leg and a man at backward square leg. For instance, his field placement for Gambhir was spot on in Chennai. Gambhir, more often than not, is a good player square of the wicket. At times, he gets dismissed by finding the outside edge. MS Dhoni, therefore, had a man at point and cover early in the innings. Gambhir struck a couple of boundaries in that region, and therefore a man was placed between point and cover to curtail the flow of runs.

He also accelerates in the later part of the innings while chasing. He handles the pressure situation brilliantly. He stays calm, looks around the ground and then takes strike. For instance, Super Kings clinched a cliff-hanger against Sunrisers Hyderabad because of Dhoni. The platform was set by Hussey and Raina for Dhoni to take the aerial route. The wicket was on the slower-side. The ball was skidding off the surface. Karan Sharma was bowling remarkably well. MS Dhoni clobbered Steyn for 17 runs in the 17th over, to reduce the equation to 29 off 18 balls. Even a bowler like Steyn would be hammered when MS Dhoni is in sublime form. Steyn was constantly bowling length deliveries that Dhoni cashed in on.

Even in their opening clash against Mumbai Indians, MS Dhoni could have steered CSK home, but Pollard’s stunning catch on the boundary rope made the difference. He was criticized for not batting up the order, but now he has taken the responsibility on his shoulders. As Akash Chopra rightly said “in T20 cricket, you don’t go by the number of wickets that have fallen but the number of balls left”. Dhoni now tries come out to bat with atleast 10 overs left. He seeks to study the pitch and then take the aerial route from the 15th over onwards.

The only way to restrict Dhoni is by bowling outside the off-stump. They should provide him enough width so that he hits the ball in the air straight to deep point. Dhoni does not have the control to keep the ball along the ground when he cuts the ball through point. Perhaps they should try to exploit this weakness. For instance, MS Dhoni could have been dismissed by Steyn early in his innings. When Dhoni was offered too much room on a couple of occasions, he cleared the man at backward point for a boundary as Sunrisers didn’t have a man at deep point. So, a man at backward point right on the edge of the circle and a man at deep point would do the trick.

Chennai Super Kings are riding on a wave of confidence under the stewardship of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. MS Dhoni would be aware of Dinesh Karthik as he played a magical innings of 74 runs in Champions League match against the Super Kings. MS Dhoni should marshal his troops efficiently against Mumbai Indians if they are to stay on top of the table. It will be a challenging match for MS Dhoni, but not impossible.