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MS Dhoni
walked slowly near the boundary of the Mahinda Rajapaksa International
Cricket Stadium near Hambantota, the notorious wind howling across from
the forest behind him. But his thoughts were on something else, his eyes
warily sizing up the outfield, easily one of the biggest in
international cricket. His first reaction: "It will be very difficult to
stop twos and threes on this ground." It was an instant, momentary
glimpse into how Dhoni's mind works. Almost immediately, he moved on to
pleasantries about the remoteness of the area.
The Hambantota trip was in July 2012. Already, the introduction of two
new balls had snatched away reverse swing and the last remaining signs
of attacking spin bowling in ODIs. With specialist bowlers who have made
him lament the absence of Yuvraj Singh's part-time slow left-armers,
Dhoni's problems were to be aggravated, especially in home conditions: A
couple of months later, the maximum number of deep fielders was reduced
to four from five.
For a man who won the World Cup with an ageing team, and two years
later, the Champions Trophy with a raw squad, this new combination of
unreliable bowlers and unfavourable rules poses a daunting challenge.
Dhoni's limited-overs captaincy, and by unfortunate extension, at times
his Test captaincy, is about damage control. He hates conceding runs.
Not that other captains enjoy giving them away, but in Dhoni's case, it
is the core philosophy of how he operates. At times, a fumble or a late
reaction from a deep fielder will make him punch one gloved hand with
the other in frustration. You will seldom see a similar reaction from
him for a dropped catch.
Dhoni does not take wickets to restrict runs. He restricts runs to take
wickets. That is why he likes and backs Ravindra Jadeja so much. That is
why he has so much time for Pragyan Ojha, in Tests. He waits and waits
for an opportunity and then moves in like a boa constrictor. As soon as
the Australia openers fell in Mohali, he turned to Jadeja and Yuvraj,
who darted the ball in backed by a packed leg-side field. The runs dried
out. The asking-rate increased. Australia lost crucial middle-order
wickets. The Dhoni formula seemed to be working again, till James
Faulkner v Ishant Sharma happened.
It is easy to label him defensive, but there is a contributing factor to
why his style is the way it is. Dhoni's never had the kind of ODI
bowlers who can consistently deliver wickets without going for runs. He
does not have a Mitchell Johnson who can run through a line-up with
extreme pace and bounce. He does not have a Saeed Ajmal who can contain
as well as strike reliably.
When he's found someone like a Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who delivers more
often than not with the new ball, he's given him extended spells at the
start. Bhuvneshwar is a limited bowler at the moment, and Dhoni tries to
maximise his strength with the new ball. But even a Bhuvneshwar is a
rarity for Dhoni.
Over a large period of his captaincy, Dhoni also had the headache of
where to hide several slow men on the field. Though India's young
batsmen have upped the standards considerably, Dhoni still has to deal
with where to place R Ashwin and Ishant - both not exactly assets on the
field. One wonders his plight if he had to operate under the
restriction of four deep fielders with some of the older sides he's led.
The India captain has been quite vocal about his discomfort
with the new rule that has compounded his worries of minimising the
damage his bowlers frequently inflict upon his batsmen. Five deep
fielders were about the only hedge Dhoni had against bowlers who
regularly panic and lose their discipline at the death. For a captain
who isn't comfortable with "spoon-feeding"
bowlers, he's increasingly started to run to them when they do the
exact opposite of what the field is set for, which is often.
His exasperation was clear at the toss in Mohali where he said something
to the tune of "I don't know what they want us to do" with all the new
rules. The impact is being felt acutely in home ODIs played on placid
pitches. India have already lost six of 11 home games in the past year playing with four deep fielders. Over the same period between 2011 and 2012, they'd lost one in ten matches
at home. With one less man to protect the boundary, Dhoni has a serious
challenge on his hands and it will have to be somehow tackled on the
field working with the same set of bowlers. Having probably the most
powerful ODI batting line-up has worked as an insurance against
profligate bowlers in the past but it might no longer suffice.
Abhishek Purohit is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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