MS Dhoni's mantra, even at 42, is simple - just keep evolving

MS Dhoni will turn 43 in July. He has won everything cricket has to offer. The ODI World Cup, the T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, the IPL, the Champions League T20 – you name it, and Dhoni would have led his team to that pinnacle.

He was not bad as a player either. He averaged more than 50 in ODI cricket, led India to the No.1 ranking in the longest format, and was perhaps front and centre of the T20 revolution that gripped the nation in the late 2000s.

Having done so much, he would have been forgiven to just put his feet up at this stage, relax, and watch the IPL from afar with a yellow shirt on. There was no real obligation on his part to come back, year after year, and still be very relevant.

That he does so, is not just a testament to the manic and often deity-like following he enjoys. It also highlights how he, as time passes, finds ways to evolve. To just be what his team needs him to be, and to not become outdated in a format that leaves people behind almost every day.

MS Dhoni has been in sparkling form in IPL 2024

This latest avatar of Dhoni (5.0, 6.0, or whatever you want to call it) does not bat as much as he once used to. Across seven matches this season, he has faced a grand total of 34 balls, having batted in just five innings. What is remarkable is that those 34 balls have yielded 87 runs at a strike rate of 255.88, easily his best in a season where he has faced a minimum of 30 balls.

The strike rate, cricketing logic says, will come down the more balls he bats. But with Dhoni, who knows? And that speaks volumes of how he has, even at this age, developed his power-hitting game.

For a significant chunk of his career, there was a notion that Dhoni could be tied down if balls were hung up well outside off. His power was not in question, but hitting over extra cover was probably the lesser evil for bowling sides, especially when compared to his power in the arc from long off to deep square leg.

Bowlers have stuck to that plan this season too. In the match against the Delhi Capitals, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, and Mukesh Kumar made a concerted effort to bowl well outside off. The only problem, though, was that Dhoni was ready for it, and had a riposte waiting.

Rather than trying to drag it to the leg side, he went over extra cover and sometimes, through it, hitting the ball with extraordinary power. The stance was also a little less open than it was previously. The lofted shots, in many ways, were similar to those he played when he was pushed up the order at the very start of his India career.

With the field up, he was not afraid to go through the line. Seems like he is not afraid to do it at the fag end of his career too.

The other interesting detail emerged during the match against the Lucknow Super Giants. Mohsin Khan was bowling from over the wicket and he had packed the off-side field further after being hit over extra cover. The intention, presumably, was to bowl a slower delivery into the track and bowl it outside off.

Dhoni read it and moved right across his stumps before scooping it over the keeper’s head for six. Those who have watched him over the years, know that this is a shot he rarely plays. But now, knowing what the bowlers will likely do, he is willing to unfurl it – again, an example of adding more strings to his bow.

The biggest part of this evolution, though, is how he has now set himself up to be this death-overs marauder. Someone who only bats in the last couple of overs (or maybe just the last), smashes the ball around and takes his team to above-par totals, which is where the T20 game is heading.

If he is hitting the ball that well, why only bat a few balls?

Well, for starters, he cannot glide across the turf like previously, owing to injuries, as coach Stephen Fleming suggested. He does not play any cricket between IPLs either, and that makes it tougher to go into situations where nudging, nurdling, and running the gaps might be needed before teeing off.

He can, of course, still do that if pressed into a predicament. But finding the right tempo, especially when you are not playing lots of cricket, is difficult.

What definitively makes this plan tick is the aura Dhoni carries. In the last over or at the death, there aren’t many (if any) who can do what he does. Throughout the history of the IPL, only three batters who have faced a minimum of 50 balls in the final over (Rohit Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, and AB de Villiers) have a better strike rate.

When the balls-faced criteria is turned up to 100, the former Chennai Super Kings captain is well at the top with a strike rate of 246.64. And he has hit 65 sixes in the 20th over of IPL matches. The next best is Kieron Pollard with 33.

This makes a lot of sense from a psychological standpoint too. If Dhoni is in the dugout and waiting to bat, bowlers might just keep glancing at the dugout nervously, trying to anticipate when the veteran will come out to bat. This is a little bit of an intangible but the feeling that Dhoni is yet to come, would add calmness to the CSK dugout, and might instil fear in the opposition.

And that is what Dhoni and CSK seem to be playing at these days. Rather than making teams face just a death-overs marauder, they are forcing them to play against an aura, a legend. Probably a ghost, if you think about it metaphorically.

Someone who people have heard tales about. Tales of how he has torn apart the best of bowlers at the death, and how he is now coming after them, just like a lion hunts down his prey in his preferred habitat.

This, undoubtedly, is not Dhoni at his pristine best. When he was, he was an anchor, accumulator, ace finisher, and batter for all seasons and conditions. But this version is not bad either.

CSK know it. Dhoni knows it too. He also knows he needs to keep evolving. And that is why he is still relevant in such a frenzied format, even at the age of 42, and even when he could have easily been chilling on his couch at home.