Another chance wasted

Thursday’s match against the Delhi Daredevils was another opportunity for the Chennai skipper to punish the bowlers as his team set out to chase 190 for victory. But it was Suresh Raina who walked in at number three to maintain the tempo of the innings. “One has to look at the best balance of the team and the overall strength. Raina is one of the best strikers of the ball, and he’s in good form. We also have other good all-rounders who can really have a go at the bowling,” Dhoni said later.

At the Team India level, that role is filled by Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan and Raina, with Dhoni happy to weave his innings around them. But even those batsmen concede that Dhoni at his destructive best is perhaps unmatched by anyone. Dhoni, the first millionaire of the IPL, may not be the tournament’s highest-paid player any more, but in terms of Indian cricket he is these days considered priceless.

So, will the Dhoni of old please stand up? “Who knows, maybe you will see him again, maybe not,” Dhoni says. “You can come to the nets to see me bat. I still try and hit a few big shots there.”