New, mellowed Dhoni is the smart player Team India needed

There is a sense of calm that you experience with Mahendra Singh Dhoni that you don’t with say, an Amar Singh or a Mamata Banerjee. He isn’t a rioter anymore, though he often batted like one in his baptism years. Now he has grown, he has mellowed, he has become constructive and yet the target is the same. He is more the clinical assassin, taking in the moment, surveying the landscape and waiting for the moment, aware that it can be his. There isn’t the sense of drama, no Bolt, no Isinbayeva, no Ronaldo — gee, more Bindra, really.

And this might sound strange, but he actually reminds me of how Rahul Dravid used to finish matches in his glory years of one-day cricket; 2002-05 when he carved fields rather than lambasted them. He gave you the impression that there was a run-rate chart in his head. Dhoni does too, not quite in the erudite, elegant manner that Dravid possessed but in a streetsmart, worldly-wise manner; a jab here, a cut there and always a great sense of the two, the most productive shot in the game. It is a very long time since I have seen a wicketkeeper, even as strongly built as he is, run like Dhoni.

And much like Dravid at one end caused Yuvraj and Kaif to play their finest one-day innings at the other, so too does Dhoni inspire confidence and I have no doubt that the mature innings the frustratingly brilliant Raina played at the Premadasa had something to do with his partner. Dhoni doesn’t always speak of his methods, his mindset, which is a bit of a pity, because he is now an ideal lesson in how to grow as a cricketer. But worryingly for this side, there isn’t another finisher of the same pedigree and that often means he has to time his charge rather too precisely, sometimes even giving the impression he is holding back too long. So then, what position does he bat at?

For too long, he believed number six was his slot but his current move to number five is just about ideal. In the absence of an in-form Tendulkar or Sehwag, he is currently India’s best limited overs player and quite the best in the middle overs. I thought the manner in which he handled Ajantha Mendis was excellent. He wasn’t always reading him, but by playing late and getting maximum value from the nudges and flicks he was able to generate, he limited the threat of Mendis and set India up for the end overs. Sport always values the smart players, not always the show ponies, not always the bugle blowing marauders, but always the smart players. Dhoni is the smart player India needed.

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