India vs Zimbabwe 2016: 5 reasons why this tour is extremely crucial for MS Dhoni

The IPL season 9 is over and it is that time of the year when India tours an invariably weak international side to kick off their new cricketing season and like last year the team will be touring Zimbabwe. This time, the tour would comprise of 3 ODI’s and 3 T20’s.

A majority of senior players like Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja being rested for this short tour. Zimbabwe had requested for a one-off Test match but BCCI was in no mood to disturb its plans of resting the seniors after a long and gruelling cricket season.

This time though there is a twist in the tale with MS Dhoni leading the side instead of Raina, Kohli and Rahane who had led on previous 3 Zimbabwe tours of 2010, 2013 and 2015 respectively. Dhoni despite having retired from tests has played a lot of cricket in the past 3 months starting from the tour of Australia, Asia Cup, T-20 World Cup and finally the exhausting IPL.

No questions would have been asked of Dhoni had he opted out of this tour citing fatigue. Dhoni by virtue of leading a bunch of inexperienced players on this tour is trying to send a signal that he is not willing to be bowed down by the criticism levelled at him in recent times regarding his future as Indian captain in limited overs format and as a player indeed.

This tour of Zimbabwe might seem a walk in the park for some but more than the results, this tour is extremely crucial for Dhoni in various other aspects.

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Match practice and fitness level

Considering the schedule of Indian team for this season, the tour is imperative for Dhoni as far as match practice and fitness is concerned. India will be playing a lot of Test cricket till the end of March 2017, 17 in all to be precise.

If Dhoni would have opted out of this tour he would not have got a chance to play for India until the home series against New Zealand in Oct –Nov later this year. Clearly Dhoni wants to keep himself match fit and play as many limited overs cricket as possible with the crucial Champions trophy to be played in England next year.

Dhoni has recently stated that his fitness is going to be of foremost importance if he wants to continue as an international cricketer. He will be turning 35 next month and will be keen to prove that he indeed is as fit as ever, an aspect of the game in which he has taken immense pride in throughout his international career.

His fitness, more than anything else is going to be of uttermost importance if he wants to prolong his glorious career. He must be having an eye on the Champions trophy to be played in England next year and if indeed his body supports, who knows he might as well play the 2019 ODI World Cup which seems quite far at this moment.

Mentoring and nurturing the rookies

The quantum of inexperience of the team touring Zimbabwe can be gauged by the fact that all the other 15 members barring Dhoni have a combined experience of 83 ODI’s and 28 T20’s for India which is roughly one third of the appearances of Dhoni for his country.

Players of the likes of Karun Nair, Faiz Fazal, Mandeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal and Jayant Yadav have never represented their country at the international level. It seems Dhoni has taken it upon himself to mentor this young and inexperienced side.

These youngsters should be looking to imbibe every bit of what Dhoni has to advice them. The sheer presence of Dhoni in the dressing room, his work ethics and match preparation should help the youngsters immensely.

Rediscover his batting mojo back

MS Dhoni of lately has not been in the best of batting form. He struggled in the IPL scoring just 284 runs in 14 matches with a solitary half century in the last match for Rising Pune Supergiants against Kings XI Punjab.

His strike rate of 135.23 was also modest considering IPL standards, which was boosted by his last match-winning knock of 64. Dhoni has also copped a lot of criticism for batting down the order at no 6 or 7 in international cricket.

This tour will give an incentive to Dhoni in order to push himself up the order at no 4 or 5 considering the inexperienced batting order. Dhoni will be the senior most player in the batting line up consisting of Karun Nair, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu and Faiz Fazal.

This tour might just see Dhoni batting freely without any inhibitions and at his attacking best considering the mediocre Zimbabwe bowling attack. An in form Dhoni will surely boost Team India.

A tour of challenges and motivations

A tour of Zimbabwe means a whitewash would be on the expected lines but a loss even in a single match would irk the passionate Indian cricket fans. Dhoni will be touring Zimbabwe after a gap of almost 11 years.

He last played in Zimbabwe on the 2005 tour which was famous for the Ganguly-Chappell spat. Dhoni was just finding his feet in international cricket at that time. He will have his hands full on this tour as he will have to adjust to the side full of greenhorns who have virtually no experience of playing international cricket.

Dhoni is indeed a man of rare intelligence and one who has a penchant for details knows that this tour will be a rare opportunity to play in conditions assisting the bowlers which should stand the team in good stead when they play the Champions Trophy in England next year.

All the matches will be played at Harare and will be day games where the toss will be vital and adjusting to the seaming conditions will be the key to his young team’s success.

Point to prove to the detractors

Recently Dhoni has seemed to have broken from his Ice cool image on the field, engaging in a fair bit of banter with the media in press conferences. Whenever he has been asked about his future, he has responded in a stern manner looking irritated and displeased at this recurring theme in his interaction with the media.

Dhoni has also stated in the press conference before leaving for Zimbabwe that limited shelf life of an international cricketer is his biggest driving force at this moment.

Recently Ravi Shastri raised a few eyebrows when he suggested Kohli be made captain in the 3 formats of the game and that Dhoni should play freely so that he can enjoy the game.

MS cleverly bypassed the question diplomatically when he was asked about his opinion on whether Kohli should be indeed made captain in all formats, by stating that it was upon the BCCI to decide his future and also cleared the air that he was indeed enjoying the game contrary to the popular opinions.

MS Dhoni has been the finest Indian captain and a veteran of 90 Tests, 275 ODI’s and 68 T20’s who has been known to spring many a surprises as a captain and player throughout his career and who knows he might well have some surprises on this seemingly mundane tour of Zimbabwe.