When MS Dhoni turns up, there is no such thing as too high a required run-rate

When MS Dhoni walked in to bat during Rising Pune Supergiant’s chase of 177 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, one of the commentators mentioned that his strike-rate in this Indian Premier League was 87.14. According to ESPNcricinfo, it was the worst strike-rate among all batsmen who have faced at least 50 deliveries this season.

Dhoni’s scores in RPS’ six previous matches were 12*(12), 5(11), 11(14), 5(8), and 28(25). Former India captain Sourav Ganguly had doubted his credentials as a Twenty20 player. His franchise’s owners had dropped him as captain and then publicly compared him with his replacement, Steve Smith. His batting position had become a topic of debate, with cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra saying on air that RPS were humiliating Dhoni by making him bat lower down the order. To top it all, Pune had lost three of their five matches and were lying at the bottom of the table.

It would be fair to say Dhoni was under some pressure when he walked in at No 4, not least because of the position is team was in. RPS had just lost the captain, Smith, and were at 87/2 in the 11th over, needing another 90 runs to win from 55 balls, required rate just under 10. Two overs later, Dhoni lost his in-form partner, Rahul Tripathi (59 off 41) to a run-out. The equation was 79 needed off 41 balls, required run-rate over 11. Three overs later, he would lose Ben Stokes (10 off nine). RPS needed 56 more from 23 balls at the stage, required rate over 14.

Rising required rate

Dhoni was just about going at over a run-a-ball at that stage, on 21 off 19, at a time when his team needed more than two runs a ball. He had just hit one six and one four. The equation was to become 47 needed off 18, required rate over 15; Dhoni 25(22). Same old story. Surely, there was no coming back from here. Dhoni had done some amazing things in his prime, but he was 35 now. Unless you have an eidetic memory, you couldn’t remember the last time he had led his team to a win from such a situation. He was no Virat Kohli. He was no Kieron Pollard.

With three overs to go, it was do-or-die time. Dhoni had to go for broke. Recent evidence suggested he would perish, after leaving it for too late. However, he survived the 18th over, even managing to clobber Mohammad Siraj for a six and a four along the way. Manoj Tiwary hit a boundary as well, as RPS managed to get 17 off the over, bringing the equation to 30 needed from the last 12 balls, required rate exactly 15.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the leading wicket-taker of the IPL so far and one of the best death bowlers on the circuit, was to bowl the penultimate over. Surely, this was the end of the rope. But even the best feel the nerves when you hit 17 off the previous over, as Bhuvneshwar bowled a wide off the first ball. The next two balls were yorker-length but wide on either side, and Dhoni managed to dispatch them to the boundary. He then played his best shot of the night – a short-arm jab, which sent Bhuvneshwar over long-on for six – to bring up his fifty off just 29 balls. The equation had now become just 11 needed off the last six balls.

That was to become four off the last two balls, with Dhoni on strike. He tried to hit the penultimate ball of the innings wide of the long-on fielder, but could not manage to, instead getting a couple. It was to go down to the last ball. And with Dhoni on strike, there can be only one result. Dhoni sealing matches with a boundary has become the stuff of legend. No matter what his form, there was going to be only one outcome.

Smack!

“Dhoni bhai is such an experienced player and he has won games from similar situations so many times… We all know that when Dhoni bhai is out there, he can get you there because he’s done it so many times. Subconsciously you are confident that he can do it. He has mostly done it successfully, so we trust him.”  

This wasn’t said by an RPS player. This was Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Shikhar Dhawan speaking in the post-match press conference, almost admitting that his team had no chance to win as long as Dhoni was out there. Dhoni was a bit more humble in his post-match interview, saying that the performance was “slightly above average”, adding, “You can’t always win games like this, but I think we did it pretty well.”

Thinking batsman

In his early years, Dhoni used to be a see-ball-hit-ball type of batsman. But with experience, he has matured into someone who thinks his way through an innings, especially a chase. It may not always work out – instances when it hasn’t worked out have naturally increased with age – but he hasn’t let go of his cricketing brain, no matter what the situation.

Asked how he worked out the chase in his mind, Dhoni said the plan was to play out the wily spinner Rashid Khan and then hit with the breeze at the ground. “[Pune is] not a very big ground and one side has a pretty strong breeze, so when me and Stokes were batting, one guy can keep hitting with the breeze. That was the plan.”

There is no such thing as a required run-rate that’s too high to chase in modern-day cricket, according to Dhoni. “What it boils down to is how well the opposition bowlers execute the deliveries – whether it is the yorkers or the length deliveries or what is suitable on the kind of wicket. I feel, in modern-day cricket, [required] run-rate of seven, eight, nine, 10 doesn’t really matter. What really matters is if you can put pressure on the opposition bowler who handles the nerves well.”

That’s exactly what Dhoni did against Bhuvneshwar Kumar, even when the required rate was as high as 15 in the death. “Obviously, you can’t hit 20 runs per over for five or six overs, that’s a bit ridiculous, but overall I feel in the last four overs you can get close to 60 runs, provided the opposition bowls badly and you bat well,” Dhoni added.

It all sounds great when you pull it off, but the problem in the last couple of seasons has been that the frequency of these match-winning MS Dhoni Specials have reduced. Even his staunchest supporters will admit that he isn’t the same as he was during his prime. Today’s Dhoni will perhaps win you one match out of five with his batting. Following Saturday’s heroics, he could very well go on a similar dry spell as the one he started the tournament with. And nobody can predict when he will turn up next.

Can teams win games without Dhoni? Definitely. He is no longer indispensable. What is still keeping him in contention is his past record, the fact that he is still a brilliant wicketkeeper even at his age, and, of course, days like Saturday, when everything goes right. So what do you do? Do you persist with him, waiting for knocks like Saturday, or let a younger player have a go?

It’s a difficult question given the stature of the man, who is arguably the second most popular cricketer in India ever, after Sachin Tendulkar, and the most successful Indian captain in history. But as long as Dhoni does not leave too many gaps between his good days with the bat, his cricketing acumen and his wicketkeeping is just about doing enough to warrant a place in the team.