3 recent performances of MS Dhoni which shows his decline

#3 MSD scores 36 from 67 balls against Bangladesh

MS Dhoni failed to finish the game against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup final

After rolling over oppositions in the group stages, India ventured into the final of the Asia Cup in Dubai and were facing a spirited Bangladesh. Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl. Bangladesh got off to a flyer and added 120 in 22 overs. Liton Das played an impressive innings of 121 in 117 balls and held the innings together. After a good start, wickets kept falling at regular intervals and Bangladesh could only manage 222. Looking at India's batting form, experts felt this would be a stroll in the park.

India got off to a quick start scoring 35 runs in 5 overs before Dhawan was dismissed. Once Rohit Sharma got out for 48 with the scoreboard reading 83 for the loss of 3 wickets, India were under pressure and the stage was set for Dhoni, with his vast experience, to guide India home. Dhoni started his innings on a slow note and with a couple of hits to the fence, he moved to 23 off 33 balls at one point of time in his innings.

After the dismissal of Dinesh Karthik, Dhoni partnered with Kedar Jadhav, who looked to up the ante. Dhoni meanwhile went into a shell and slowed down the innings as he was unable to score off the spinners. Once Jadhav got injured, Dhoni, in a quest to improve the run-rate, got dismissed for a scratchy 36 off 67 balls.

India had to still score 63 runs and Jadeja and Bhvneshwar Kumar stitched a partnership of 50 runs. India chased down 223 in the 50th over with some sensible batting in the end from Kuldeep Yadav and Kedar Jadhav. Even though India triumphed in the tournament, the middle order and especially Dhoni failed to finish the game leaving the lower order with a lot to do.

Looking ahead into the future

MS Dhoni has arguably been the best finisher in ODIs. Going purely by current form, he is no longer the finisher he once was. He has become more of a grafter and finds it difficult to get going against spin at the start of the innings. If he wants to play a crucial role in the upcoming 2019 World Cup, he needs to find an aggressive option to get going - something he did in the 2018 IPL, where he was smashing sixes for fun.