Dhoni makes his big move

Subhash Rajta

Tribune News Service

mohali, october 24

On Sunday night, after India trampled the Black Caps in the third ODI in Mohali, MS Dhoni was in the mood for a brutally honest talk. 

He knew everyone was dying to know why he promoted himself to No. 4 in the batting order. The skipper, if he wanted, could have given some routine and long-winded explanation, killing everyone’s interest in the move, or could have taken offence at the question — of late, he has been doing that. On Sunday, though, there was no beating around the bush. “I’ve batted lower down for a long time, I think 200 innings.” (Note: It’s exactly 202 innings from No. 5 to No. 8).

Then, for the first time admitting what everyone has been observing for at least two years, Dhoni said: “To some extent, I am losing my ability to freely rotate (strike) in the middle, so I have decided to bat up and let others finish.”

For professional sportspersons, it’s not easy to publicly admit their shortcomings and failures. A year back, it wasn’t easy for Dhoni, too. In the ODI series against Bangladesh last year, he had dropped Ajinkya Rahane after the first ODI and promoted himself to No. 4. When quizzed for the reason behind the move, he had pointed out at Rahane’s inability to rotate the strike in the middle overs on slow wickets. That didn’t convince everyone, for Rahane had been performing well and had failed in just one match.

Owning up

This time, though, Dhoni blamed his own shortcoming. While such an honest appraisal of one’s abilities is admirable, no one will disagree with what he said. He has been struggling at No. 5 and 6 — the slots where he built himself a reputation for being one of the best finishers the game has ever seen — for more than a year now.  

So the Indian skipper is absolutely clear that he wants to bat at No. 4 now onwards, and there is no ambiguity regarding the reason either. The only aspect which he sounded a little unclear about is the implications of the move for the team. At one stage he called it a “win-win situation” for both himself and the team — that’s so because he will get to play more freely and reinvent himself and others will get a chance to do the job he has been doing admirably for so many years; but at another point, he conceded that the move was “more of my need than the team’s”.

Dhoni may be in a dilemma, but for an objective observer it seems to be a win-win equation — at least his moving out from the No. 6 position definitely is. Given the results India have logged in the shorter formats in recent times and his struggle to finish the games, India needed him to move out of that position and groom someone else for that very tough job. 

As for his moving to No. 4, the move, at least in theory, looks good, too. Apart from him getting a lot of freedom and time to build his innings — which he rarely got lower down the order — the shift will see Virat Kohli and him batting in tandem more often. And that’s not something the opposition’s bowlers — as the New Zealand bowlers found out on Sunday — would be too happy about. Besides both of them being capable of piercing the field and taking the aerial route, they could run any opposition ragged with their super-fast running between the wickets. The shuffle in the batting order will also prompt the team management to start looking for a new finisher for the side. And it will be a lot easier for the new man to slip into the role if the original finisher is still around to guide him.