IPL 2018: The Resurgence of MS Dhoni

The return of Chennai Super Kings was supposed to be a fairytale story and it has been like that so far. Their torch bearer’s return to form has been the highlight of this year’s IPL or rather Indian cricket perhaps.

MS Dhoni might have born in Ranchi, but he belongs to Chennai. It has been that kind of love and emotion the people of Tamil Nadu have shown and he has duly acknowledged that. There was a promotional event for the CSK franchise before the tournament at which, he almost broke down to tears and kept repeating the words “We are back, we are back and we are back”.

The return of CSK has been a highlight of this IPL season. But, the return of MS Dhoni “The Finisher” stole the limelight of all. In the group stages, he has scored 446 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 157.04 and averages a mammoth 89.20. If we look at his record for CSK in IPL, this has been by far his best performance by a long distance. In 2012, he had scored 461 runs at an average of 41.9 and a strike rate of 162.8, which is the closest to this season.

His record itself reveals the story. He has been striking at 157.04 S.R. which means, he is taking the attack to the opposition earlier than he used to.

Dhoni was known to take his time early in the innings and go all guns blazing at the latter part of it. But in the past few years, he failed in it more often than not.

Also, the fact that he was taking time initially did no good to his strike rate and added extra pressure as well. If we look at his record for Pune in the past two years, it was clearly evident that he wasn’t at his best.

He might have averaged 40 in 2016. But that was mostly because of the late attempts to accelerate and remained not out.

This season has been an entirely different story. His average and strike rate clearly indicates that he is finishing matches for Chennai. The cricketing fraternity is overjoyed about it, wondering what he has done to get there.

In fact, he had a couple of bad games at the start of the tournament. He was found all at sea against the rookie leg-spinner Mayank Markande in the inaugural match. Ever since he hit form against KXIP, there was no looking back.

I feel that his return to form has a lot to do with the return of Chennai. The fans had kept it going for the franchise. Wherever they went, it almost felt like a home game for them. It’s a shame that Chennai didn’t get to host after that first match.

The emotion that was going through stadium was so beautiful. I was grateful enough to be there, to witness that game. I feel the fact that he is on the verge of 38 years and this being his best chance to win it as a captain has motivated him like any other.

He feels the franchise and he himself owes a trophy to those fans. They have been so loyal to them despite the suspension. He has been vocal about the mistakes made on the field without mincing words at the interviews.

Despite the fact that CSK is the most consistent team in IPL, the last time they won was seven years back, which is poor by his own standards. He wants to win it this time and that’s clearly evident in his intent.

Dhoni came into this season with lots of criticism as many believed that the finisher in Dhoni has diminished. Despite all of it, every question that was asked about his failures was dismissed with brute force by his captain.

The friendship between Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni is something that the cricket world is in awe at. Their friendship has shattered the on-field egos and the fact that Virat is willing to use Dhoni’s skills and ideas on the field has to be given due credit. He has been excellent at it so far.

PS: I haven’t seen MS Dhoni bat in full sleeves quite often. It was a rare sight. But this season since the second match in Chennai, he is wearing full sleeves and looks like he is unwilling to change that.

I would love to watch MSD shrug his shoulders while batting in half sleeves. But as long as he keeps batting like he does now, I wouldn’t complain.