Dhoni must get back his form
>> Friday, June 26, 2009
But the task seems doubly difficult with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s transformed batting style that has gone from explosive to calm and accumulating.
Dhoni was given the reigns of the Indian team in 2007 for his ability to rocket the ball over the boundary at will and perform in pressure situations. But ever since becoming the captain, his brute power seems to have disserted him.
The 27-year-old known for his helicopter shot that would sail to the back of the stands has been taken over by a mellow, defensive approach.
“Dhoni is certainly not as aggressive as he used to be and he will have to be careful about it because like this he will neither be here nor there,” said Chetan Chauhan, former India cricketer.
Dhoni owns the record of the highest score by a wicketkeeper. He hit a colossal 183 not out against Sri Lanka in 2005, to take over Adam Gilchrist tally. But after becoming the captain, the destructive batsman’s strike rate in one-day internationals has fallen from 96 to 85 runs per hundred balls.
Even in the Twenty20 format where you have to score at a blistering pace, Dhoni’s strike rate has reduced from 128 in the inaugural World Twenty20 to just 96 in the second edition of the tournament.
There have been times when Dhoni has come up the batting order, but he has been happy to let his other illustrious hitters in the team to take center-stage.
The captain’s extended honeymoon of a successful run for the past one year seems to be over with the team’s dismal performance in the World T20 in England. From now on, his every hit and miss will be under scrutiny.
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