Dhoni's Code: Will it work in T20's ?

I am a Dhoni purist. He is the best tactician, the best mentor, the best skipper India has ever produced. So much against the name: Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He follows a different set of codes, which is very rare and dangerous indeed. Sanjay Manjrekar once said ‘Dhoni loves playing with fire, and sometimes it backfires’. The second T20 against New Zealand was one of those odd days, it backfired.

India needed 4 runs of the last ball and MS Dhoni, one of the finest finishers in the business, was against the best death-overs bowler of the game, Lasith Malinga. The fleet footed Ranchi Rambo bludgeoned the ball over covers and stole three runs to tie a nerve-wracking match, 6 months ago in Adelaide Oval, Australia. The very same MS Dhoni had scored 13 runs of the last over to clinch a nail biting victory against the mighty Australia.

In one of his post match presentations he had clearly stated his code of heart rates. According to MSD, when the required rate is around 7 and when the new batsmen has just arrived to the center the heart rate of the batsmen will be more than the bowler and when the required run rate reaches 9, the situation changes and heart rates are same for both the batsmen and the bowler. And Dhoni favors the latter. Which according to me, does not create a win-win situation with respect to the non-striker.

Judging a player’s caliber on the basis of just one inning is a sin. But it’s different when it comes to Dhoni, eight out of ten times he walks in when the asking rate is floating around 7. He takes his time and sets the game for a stern finish and 9/10 times he succeeds. He works on the bowler’s psychology. It takes a brave man to take the match to the wire and steal a victory. But there is only one Dhoni in the eleven and the non-striker melts under such pressures. If Dhoni decides to finish every run chase in the final over, it will cost heavily when India has these odd-MSD-Days in knock out matches.

I think Dhoni must bat at number seven, i.e. he must bat after Rohit and Tiwary. Rohit Sharma has a very good track record in T20′s (ignoring his recent performance in Sri Lanka). He has single-handedly won matches for Mumbai Indians (even Deccan Chargers) and had also performed pretty decently in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in South Africa. These youngsters, Rohit, Raina and Tiwary do not follow these MSD Codes and are pretty eager to finish the game prior to the last over.

Say, India needs 60 of the last 8 overs with 7 wickets in hand. If Dhoni walks into this situation, he will stall and make the situation such that it fits his code, explicitly triggering the required run rate to 9 or 10. There is no second thought in saying Dhoni slogs profusely under pressure, but at times, in-form bowlers can bowl impeccable deliveries and you can end up losing your wicket, no matter how good a batsmen you are. (It happened in CSK’s last league match against KKR in IPL-5, Dhoni was outplayed by Rajath Bhatia in the last over, all thanks to DJ Bravo heroics, who hit a gigantic six over long on of the last ball and took CSK home).

If any other middle order batsmen (other than Dhoni) walks in with 60 of the last 8 overs, he would take his time and play his shots. If he succeeds, India will win. If he fails, then MS Dhoni walks in at the ideal situation, the pressure is already built.

I feel it’s better to walk in at No. 7 and bat under pressure than walking in at No.5 and ‘build’ (create) the pressure. It’s time that Dhoni realizes his mistakes and bats down the order and creates a win-Win situation. If he still continues to bat up the order then the fans will demand that he cook fast food, and not look to make “Idlis”.

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed

-Michael Jordan