MS Dhoni scored a swashbuckling century on Wednesday batting at No. 5, disregarding the call by cricket legends like Sunil Gavaskar and Adam Gilchrist to go up the order. So has he settled the issue over his batting position? He may, actually, have further intensified the debate.
Gavaskar contends that the best batsman should face the maximum number of balls. At the VCA Stadium here, there was little doubt as to who was India’s best batsman on Wednesday. His well-paced century was instrumental in India piling up their not only their highest total against World Champions Australia but also squaring the series.
“The batting is more or less fixed when we have got Viru (Sehwag) and Sachin (Tendulkar) to open, Gautam (Gambhir) at No.3, Yuvraj at No.4. The next slot vacant is No.5. Depending on the strength of the individuals, players who can have a bigger impact on the game accordingly we select individuals to bat at that particular slot,” Dhoni had defended himself on match-eve.
But going by his batting on Wednesday, Dhoni looked the ‘impact’ player of the side. He was calculated in his running between the wickets, calibrated in his timing to accelerate the scoring and perfect in execution. The sixes were coming thick and fast and the Aussies were clueless about how and where to bowl.
Statistically speaking, Dhoni has scored maximum runs batting at No.5 and No.6 but has averaged higher while batting up the order. He has also got two centuries batting at No.3 as compared to one each at No.4 or No.5.
Stats apart, Dhoni’s Nagpur effort was a mammoth one — one of the best in ODI cricket in terms of planning, execution. In fact, when he scores big, India win more often than not.
“You need the best batsman to get the maximum overs inODIs,” said Gavaskar impelling Dhoni to come ahead of some of his teammates. Dhoni may have disappointed him by coming in at No.5 but the Little Master was probably happy to see Dhoni bat for over 30 overs.
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