MS Dhoni bringing his real self in Test Cricket

MS Dhoni

Dhoni the Test batsman has been a miserable reflection of Dhoni the limited-overs dasher, particularly in hostile conditions of England, Australia and South Africa. The most painful aspect being the mode of dismissals: edging the full-pitched deliveries straight to the wicket-keeper or the slips. Nearly every dismissal has been similar, if not exactly the same. In alien conditions, he has managed just 1970 runs at an unimpressive average of 32.83.

Dhoni, being the back-foot player that he is, quite often reaches out for the outswinging deliveries. He plays them away from the body, without carrying the body-weight forward, hence triggering his own downfall. Worse, he jabs at the ball with hard hands, making the task easier for the adversaries.

Playing with hard hands may be an effective tactic to steal a few runs in ODIs or T20s, but this isn’t ‘what the doctor orders’ in Test cricket! The red ball swings more, and on top of it, there is a throng of slip fielders in place to latch on to the edge that is coming sporadically off his bat.

Altering his technique drastically at this stage of his career would be nothing short of inconceivable. He seems to have realized this fact and concluded to play his natural game. The crucial innings’ of 39 and 68 in the ongoing Test series against the Kiwis demonstrate his change of approach. These two innings don’t really catch the eye on paper, but they did on the field. Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum felt the heat as Dhoni almost snatched the game away from the hosts in no time.

Dhoni is best known for his sheer ability to intimidate the opposition by the dint of his aggressive play. It has been rather refreshing to watch Dhoni carry his positive ODI game plan into Test cricket. He has clearly decided that being pro-active is the way to go, at least for him, against a moving ball, especially with the suspect technique that he possesses.

Both the mentioned innings ‘hurt’ the New Zealanders. Even Neil Wagner, their pace bowler, acknowledged this fact. Dhoni backed himself to counter-attack and use the hard, new ball to his advantage. There is always that risk-factor associated with Dhoni, more prominently so while facing the new ball.

However, with two accurate swing bowlers in Tim Southee and Trent Boult in operation, he couldn’t have allowed them to dictate terms with a brand new red-cherry in hand. Hence, Dhoni began dancing down the wicket and playing his shots. This effectively disturbed their lines a wee bit, but just enough for Dhoni to smash the hard ball here, there and everywhere.

This is largely an efficient way to cut off the deviation off the deck for a batsman like him who can remain balanced while advancing down the wicket. In fact, while stepping out, on most occasions, he advances obliquely to the outside of off-stump. This eliminates the possibility of leg-befores.

Dhoni the Test batsman, all of a sudden, looks a much assured campaigner, altogether diametric to what he was not too long ago. He has looked dependable, like he perennially is, in limited-overs format.

The coaching manuals will tell you that 3-T’s are the stepping stones in the pursuit to excel at the highest level. The 3-T’s being talent, technique and temperament. Tick the first two boxes and you are pretty much ready to go in the international circuit. All the same, to survive at this level for long, temperament is the key – something that defines MS Dhoni, the charismatic Indian skipper.

He never possessed the talent to be a successful batsman, leave alone the technique. However, it has been more than ten years, and he is still going great guns. Visibly, he is set apart by the virtue of his calm and composed temperament.

These two innings in New Zeland have reinforced his temperamental strength. Within the constraints of his technical glitches, he has the potential to be an enforcer at No 7 even at the Test level. The Indian top and upper-middle order has the most gifted batsman in the world. If they play to their potential, Dhoni can go about his innings much freely with lesser pressure.

Dhoni cuts and pulls well. So, he is bound to succeed in fast and bouncy tracks of Australia and South Africa given he negotiates the moving ball outside the off-stump. He plays spin as good as anyone else in world cricket. The epic 224-run knock against the Aussies in Chennai stands testimony to this fact. The gist of stating his proficiencies is to suggest how good a test batsman he can be.

For every Test side, the No 7 batting position is critical. Dhoni is the ideal batsman in Team India to occupy this position wherein he acts as a perfect intermediary between the middle order and the tailenders. Dhoni, being the serene character that he is, fits in well for this job – resembling Adam Glichrist of the glorious Australian test team of the decade gone by.

In Dinesh Karthik and Wriddhiman Saha, India does have technically-stronger wicket-keeper batsman waiting in the wings. But, India can’t sacrifice Dhoni particularly because of his leadership abilities. His mental durability can’t be compromised with in any case. Thus, it is critical for Dhoni to ascend from here in the Test level and keep serving Indian cricket for as long as he can!