OLD TRAFFORD: How thin is the line between a masterstroke and a questionable move? Millimetres, considering the distance between MS Dhoni’s bat and the crease when Martin Guptill’s direct hit blew away India’s fading hopes at Old Trafford on Wednesday. Twenty-four off 10 balls was a Herculean task, but given that their Hercules himself was still around, the hopefuls in blue had not given up.
Dhoni has pulled things back from the brink in the past. He was known for doing what others couldn’t think of. He had also smacked a scarcely believable six square on the off two balls earlier. And run out? Haring between wickets was the only thing he was doing right as a batsman in this World Cup.
It took a pinpoint throw to remind the world that this was about banking too much on the past. The man who had taken the responsibility of shepherding the chase in a World Cup final eight years ago had long seized to be the force he was. Dhoni was struggling to middle the ball in most of the matches in this competition, and finding it difficult to rotate strike when the situation demanded. But he was still persisted within crucial positions, often despite below-par returns.
He is needed in crunch situations when the chips are down: this was the explanation offered by the team. Five for three, 24/4, the situation kept getting worse and the man the team relied on was still not seen. Lack of trust in his abilities against the moving ball? Lack of faith in his powers to last long? Those with little batting time under their belt were sent ahead.
This was the perplexing part. Why have someone in the team also for his batting if he can’t be trusted to shoulder responsibility when the chips are down? “Well, he had been given that role after the first few games of being in a situation where he can, if the situation is bad, control one end like he did today or if there is a scenario where there are six or seven overs left he can go and strike,” said Virat Kohli after the match.
To be fair to Dhoni, he looked better than he had in previous games at this World Cup and the role he played as Ravindra Jadeja’s assistant in reviving India’s hopes was not negligible. But Dhoni playing second fiddle to Jadeja’s when it comes to batting in limited-over games was one of the most revealing moments of the Indian campaign in the World Cup.
A player’s ability to evolve with time; that’s one way of looking at it. The other is the confusion over his role, so much so that a team can’t decide where he should bat. No 4 in Australia in the beginning of the year and a pale shadow of what he was six months later, this was a transition not many had expected. But then, this game is about queer twists, sometimes.