MS Dhoni was back to his best as he lead RPS to a surprising victory over the SunRisers.
As soon as MS Dhoni caressed the ball past the cover fielder and into the boundary line to gift his team a miraculous last-ball victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the entire Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) dugout got up from their seats. Manoj Tiwary, watching nerve-wracking drama unfold from the non-striker’s end, walked up to Dhoni with his arms raised to give him a hug.
Each RPS member was either clapping, cheering or flashing a grin. As for the man himself, he merely obliged Tiwary’s hug and shook hands with the SRH players. The expressions on his face were deadpan – as they 99.99 per cent are with Dhoni – but there was something in his eyes that told a different tale.
His eyes remained unfluttered for a few seconds after hitting those winning runs. Those eyes were of steel, those eyes were of purpose, those eyes were of determination.
The blink could wait. Dhoni had to first prove a point.
Since the start of this IPL season, the former India captain has been put under a microscope. Every move, shot and run of his is scrutinized like never before. Is Dhoni on the wane? Is Dhoni finished as finisher? How long will he continue? Does he deserve to go to the Champions Trophy?
Those questions became more complicated due to Dhoni’s poor returns in RPS’s first five games: 12*, 5, 11, 5, 28. Dhoni needed an answer, RPS needed an answer, India needed an answer.
The answer came when he walked out to bat in the 11th over on Saturday, with RPS requiring 90 in a little over nine overs. It was a test that Dhoni would pass with distinction a couple of years ago. In recent times, he was flunking more often. He simply couldn’t afford another failure on Saturday.
Perhaps, Dhoni knew it. That’s the reason Dhoni of the old decided to turn up. That’s the reason Dhoni was at his calculative best in a precarious position. That’s the reasons those eyes were different after the finisher’s finish.
“He was determined,” RPS head coach Stephen Fleming said of Dhoni on the eve of RPS’s game against Mumbai Indians on Sunday.
“It was vintage, wasn’t it? It was a performance that was befitting of a man who has the reputation of being a great finisher. There has been a discussion around when was the last time he has played an innings like that. People were questioning his form but you’ve got to remember (that) playing an innings like that, we had got a bit blasé about how special they were,” he added.
People were indeed questioning, and not just the Twitterati. From former India captain Sourav Ganguly to the brother of RPS owner Sanjiv Goenka, a host of people had their daggers out to chop the wings of Dhoni.
But with Dhoni, those daggers always turn docile.
“He has never listened or been affected by all the off-field talk. In some ways, he isolates himself away from that which is a good thing especially in India with the pressure and the amount of talk there is. But still, the calmness he shows in such situations is one of his greatest assets. And yesterday (Saturday), it was to the fore,” Fleming said.
How great would it be if it were to come to fore more often in the forthcoming matches? For RPS’s sake, for India’s sake but more importantly, for Dhoni’s sake.
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 "IPL 10, IPL 2017, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Manoj Tiwary, Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS), Cricket, Stephen Fleming, Sanjiv Goenka")
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