SK Flashback: When MS Dhoni faltered in the last over against England

After having had a torrid Test series where they had lost 3-1 to England, the Indian cricket team made a fine comeback in their limited-overs leg of the tour in 2014, winning the ODI series convincingly 3-1.

Heading into the one-off T20I in Edgbaston, both teams were looking to finish the long summer off on a high. Opting to bat after winning the toss, the English batsman took the Indian bowlers on a leather hunt in the short boundaries and fast outfield of Birmingham and finished with a score of 180 for 7 in their 20 overs. The score was also cut short to under-200, thanks largely to also some fine Indian fielding during the innings.

The Indian reply to that total began in poor fashion, as Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed early, but Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli began to rebuild, putting on 79 for the second wicket.

For the first time in the entire tour, Kohli looked like the batsman who had tormented all the bowlers at the World T20 that year and at 89 for 1 t the halfway mark, India looked good to win the game.

But that's when the hosts began to claw their way back into the contest. Dhawan was first dismissed for 33, bowled by Chris Woakes and then four overs later, Kohli followed him to the pavilion after making 66, to leave India needing 50 runs off the final 6 overs.

MS Dhoni joined Suresh Raina at the crease and it looked like with the calming influence of the skipper and the attacking instincts of Raina, the Men in Blue would pull off the chase.

But left-arm pacer Harry Gurney had other ideas and he dented India further by removing Raina and then Ravindra Jadeja was run-out for 7, with the visitors needing 28 in just over two overs.

Like had been the case on many occasions in the past, it was now up to Dhoni to steer India home and the equation came down to 17 needed off the final over with Ambati Rayudu at the other end.

The over began in promising fashion, with Dhoni smashing the first ball for a six. The next delivery yielded two runs and the equation boiled down to 9 needed off 4 deliveries.

The third delivery saw Dhoni mistime one to mid-wicket and despite having a capable hitter in Rayudu, he declined the single. The next ball went for a four and that blow put India in the driver’s seat for a win.

But off the 5^th ball, Dhoni failed to connect again and once again, and this time a bit inexplicably, he refused the single again, meaning India needed a five to win and four to tie the game.

The pressure was on Woakes and he opted to go the short route, and Dhoni failed to get any kind of connection, managing to get just a single, which meant India fell three runs short.

I felt I could finish it: Dhoni

Post the match, when Dhoni was asked about his decision to retain strike, he said he was middling the ball well and had the confidence of finishing the match.

"In the last over, I missed at least two I could have hit over the boundary, it was a difficult task and one of those days when it didn't go our way. I thought I'm middling it I have a good chance but it didn't pay off. Overall I thought the chase was good but we probably gave away too many runs in the latter overs but we bowled well in the middle. Shami is someone who does bowl yorkers but isn't consistent. But 180 was a score we should have got. There were quite a few excellent catches taken and that was the reason we kept them to 180. Overall it's a good tour for us, we came back strongly in the ODIs,” he said.

Was this start of the decline for Dhoni?

A few months post that tour, Dhoni retired from Test cricket, citing difficulty to play all three formats of the game. Some felt that the decision would help him extend his limited-overs career by a few more years.

However, while that has been the case, the renowned finishing skills of Dhoni have been on the wane in the last 12-15 months. The Kanpur ODI against South Africa, where he couldn’t get 11 runs in the final over off the bowling of Kagiso Rabada, earlier this year when he couldn’t get 8 off Neville Madziva, the Florida T20I where he couldn’t get two off the last ball are just a few examples of how the Indian limited-overs skipper isn’t the same finisher as he was in the past.

With India playing a minimum of 8 ODIs before the Champions Trophy next year, let’s hope the Dhoni can get his old magic back and help India close out the matches in the final overs in the future.