After a dismal Test series and a long winter-break, England are back in India to fight it out in a three-match One-Day International series. They won one and lost the other warm-up ties they featured in against India A but the real Test begins from tomorrow when they meet the Virat Kohli-led side at Pune. While India would look to continue the domination, Eoin Morgan and his men would believe they will have their chances.
It will be also quite interesting to see how Mahendra Singh Dhoni goes about his business, days after stepping down as India’s limited overs captain. His performances will be quite crucial for the men-in-blue throughout the three matches.
On the other hand, England will heavily depend on their young wicket-keeper Jos Buttler to deliver and bail them out of tricky situations with his hard hitting skills. Here at Sportskeeda we look at these two destructive individuals and analyse what they can do in the upcoming series.
#5 What do the stats say?
It is very obvious that an old warhorse like Dhoni will have extraordinary statistics, and yes he does have the numbers. For over a decade now, whenever India have needed him, he has delivered more often than not. The biggest example was in the 2011 World Cup final where he scored an unbeaten 90 to help his country win the quadrennial event.
There have also been many other instances when he has singlehandedly helped India get over the line. From 283 One-Dayers he has 9110 runs with the highest score of 183*. He averages 50.89 with nine hundred and 61 fifties. Dhoni also boasts of a strike-rate of 88.80.
Buttler, on the other hand, made his ODI debut in 2012. He has featured in 81 games till now, amassing 2217 runs at an average of 38.89. But he has a strike rate of 120.29, which is monstrous in any format of the game.
#4 The keeping techniques
It is often said, whatever MS Dhoni does behind the stumps with his gloves cannot be taught in cricket coaching classes. The man is unorthodox , yet he is one of the most successful keepers ever. His flicks on to the stumps, his way of gathering the ball in front of the timber are just some of the things which now come very naturally to him. Remember the last ball run-out in the World T20 against Bangladesh, where he ran and took off the bails in a flash? Only a genius can do that.
Since making his debut way back in 2004, Dhoni has taken 267 catches and affected 92 stumpings in One-Dayers.Buttler meanwhile does the basics right, behind the stumps. Though he is a tall man, he stays low and watches the ball closely into his gloves. His movement too is like a traditional keeper who has been taught to be light on his feet.
He also uses his height to good advantage while grabbing balls flying over his head. Buttler has 101 catches and 12 stumpings to his credit in the 50-over format.
#3 Middle order pillars
What MS Dhoni does for India, Buttler has been recently doing it for England. They are just the batsmen a side needs after the first 30 overs. Once there is a platform to launch, they are the most lethal in the business.
And because of this, both teams are quite dependent on both Dhoni and Buttler. They have the ability to rotate the strikes with quick one and twos and then dispatch the loose deliveries into the stands. Sometimes they also do the rescue act, when their sides are in deep trouble. Dhoni has quite mastered this art, while Buttler is still grabbing the tricks of the trade.
#2 Their hard-hitting capabilities
"If 15 runs are needed off the last over, pressure is on the bowler, not on MS Dhoni,” former West Indies cricketer Ian Bishop had once said about Dhoni. The words could not have been apter. When Dhoni swings the large willow in his hands and times the ball, it is almost an unwritten law that the leather would sail into the stands.
He has been doing it quite consistently over some time now and with the burden of captaincy gone, be sure you will see more of those towering sixes.Buttler too has been an aggressive player throughout his career. He loves power hitting and that is precisely why he bats a little lower down the order. Like Dhoni, Buttler to relishes the opportunity of getting his team home when they are struggling.
He was quite brilliant against Bangladesh in the last series and he would look to do the same here.
#1 The cricketing brain
In this series, Virat Kohli will have MS Dhoni by his side whenever he will be in doubt. He has a brilliant cricketing brain and through his years of experience he will try and guide Kohli whenever possible.
Don’t be surprised, if time and again Kohli runs in from cover behind the stumps to have a chat with Dhoni.
It will quite be the same for Buttler. He captained in the series against Bangladesh, but now that regular captain Eoin Morgan is back in the side, he has been relieved of his duties. But make no mistake, Buttler has a good understanding of the game and is one of the few senior players in the squad. There’s no doubt Morgan will rely on him when taking tough decisions
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