India v/s Australia: MS Dhoni drops anchor, rises again

A day after scoring a crucial 79 and guiding India to a winning position against Australia, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was lying down on the floor of the airport in Chennai waiting to board the flight to Kolkata, the venue of the second ODI.

Dhoni is known to catch up with rest at every available opportunity and while his younger teammates around him engaged themselves in some banter— the former India captain gave no indication on any change in his attitude or casual demeanour.

However on the field, in the series against Sri Lanka and in Sunday's ODI in Chennai, Dhoni has shown a remarkable and seemingly effective turnaround in the way he approaches the game.

Sunday's outing was just another day in office for Dhoni till he unleashed an innings that can be considered special, if not extraordinary, in the context of the match situation.

Dismissed for the first time in the last six international innings on Sunday gave him an astounding average of 242.00. This has also swelled his average in ODI innings to nearly 90 for this calendar year.

Not one to give a thought to statistics, Dhoni has put beyond doubt that he ought to be on the flight to England for the 2019 World Cup.

The value of Dhoni has only been increasing match after match. Especially after the chairman of selectors MSK Prasad gave an ultimatum of sorts that Dhoni was not irreplaceable. And that if he doesn't perform, they will have to look at alternatives.

World Cup winner Yashpal Sharma, who is also former national selector, took to twitter to express his displeasure at the way questions were raised about Dhoni's place in the Indian team.

A day after Dhoni played an unbeaten 67 to bail the team out from a precarious 61/4 in the third ODI against Sri Lanka at Pallekele last month, Sharma posted: "Mahi ka Dhamaka #Dhoni Slap on the faces of those who r saying will keep an eye on Mahi's performance or will look for other options #BCCI."

Sharma only echoed the sentiments of the almost the entire nation. Dhoni is still excelling when the chips are down. Like he did in Sri Lanka in recent times or in Chennai on Sunday, when he walked in at the fall of Rohit Sharma after 16 overs to stay till the end but for the final two deliveries.

Gone are the days when Dhoni would look to belt the ball out of the park at every chance. These are the days of a mellowed-down Dhoni, who plays the role of a mentor and a sheet anchor in whose company the hot, young blood of the likes of Hardik Pandya and Manish Pandey step on the accelerator.

The presence of Dhoni at No. 6 is as crucial as it gets and the wicket-keeper's present form gives captain Virat Kohli a lot more comfort. For, he knows that there is the man for all seasons and situations to bail the team out, if it is needed.

The 36-year-old from Jharkhand relishes such situations. The adventurous styles of Pandya, Pandey and also Kedar Jadhav allow him to play the sheet-anchor role and shepherd the tailenders to take India to winning totals.

Pandya said after his hurricane knock of 83 on Sunday that during their partnership of 118 for the sixth wicket, Dhoni and he were discussing of settling for a total of 230. That India finished with 51 more is what Dhoni batting with the tail all about.

Dhoni gives India at least 51 reasons to smile about, and the opposition, as many scares.

As Dhoni has always said, it is his calculative mind and the targetting of a particular bowler in the end that gives him the cushion to see off some deliveries early on and go on the offensive at the death. He has curbed his attacking instincts, not getting swayed by the six-hitting abilities of the younger lot at the other end. Like he did at his 'home' Chepauk when he scored his first boundary after 66 balls and having notched up 40 runs.

Like it has been through out his career, for the man from Ranchi, any target is still seemingly not unreachable. It is just that his approach towards getting there has changed.

Anybody who knows to bat can score runs on batting strips. But, on surfaces that are a little tough, the odd bounce making batting trickier or the slowness of the pitch gives bowlers the advantage, then, there is Dhoni, the tried and tested finisher.

Dhoni has long attained the stature where he ought to quit on his own terms, something that was accorded to Sachin Tendulkar. Dhoni has achieved all that a captain can. Besides, with his wicketkeeping abilities and playing the role of a finisher, he has given a new meaning to the all-rounder's term.

Until then, Dhoni has to be valued and cherished.