Data check: Breaking down what MS Dhoni has done with the bat in the 2019 World Cup

At the start of this World Cup, India’s biggest concern was its middle order. And even today, having qualified for the semi-finals quite comfortably, their Achilles heel remains the same.

The two-time champions have tried KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik and, of course, Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the middle order after skipper Virat Kohli, but they still haven’t settled in on one combination.

While the blame must be shared by all, Dhoni, somehow, has found himself to be the center of attention over the past couple weeks. The former captain’s timid outing with the bat against England left many wondering if he’s well past his sell-by date.

His struggles at the crease are there for all to see, but is Dhoni, the batsman, really not an asset to the Indian team anymore? Or are we expecting too much from him because the batters around him don’t inspire much confidence?

A batsman’s impact on the game can’t merely be judged by the number of runs he scores. There’s a spiral effect that each player has with his performance at the crease.

Which is why, here’s a deep dive into what Dhoni has done so far in the tournament with the bat. How his performances have shaped results and also affected the momentum of those batting with him.

Read on…

Match No 1

Opponent: South Africa

Result: India won by six wickets with 15 balls to spare

Dhoni’s stay at the crease:

0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 4, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 1, 2, 1, 1, 0, 2, 1, 1, Out.

Balls Faced: 46; Runs Scored: 34; Strike-rate: 73.91; Fours: 2; Sixes: 0; Ones: 18; Twos: 4; Threes: 0; Dots: 21; Dot-ball percentage: 45.65.

Match Situation: He walked out to bat at No 5 in the 32nd over, with the score on 139/3 at that time. India needed 89 runs to win from 111 balls.

Dhoni got out in the 47th over, with the score being 213/4 at that time. India needed 15 runs to win from 23 balls with six wickets in hand.

This match will be remembered for the unbeaten, match-winning century scored by Rohit Sharma [122 off 144]. During Dhoni’s time at the crease, India’s vice-captain went from 83 runs off 101 balls to 121 runs off 143 balls. Sharma’s strike-rate was slightly higher than Dhoni’s in that period. This can, of course, be attributed to the fact that he was well set by then.

The two senior batsmen built just the partnership the team needed. They added 74 runs from 88 balls for the fourth wicket. With the required-rate not too high and plenty of wickets in hand, Dhoni could afford to take the time he needed to settle in. He would’ve liked to remain not-out, though.

Match No 2

Opponent: Australia

Result: India won by 36 runs

Dhoni’s stay at the crease:

0, 4, 2, 1, 0, 2, 4, 1, 6, 4, 2, 0, 1, Out.

Balls Faced: 14; Runs Scored: 27; Strike-rate: 192.86; Fours: 3; Sixes: 1; Ones: 3; Twos: 3; Threes: 0; Dots: 3; Dot-ball percentage: 21.43.

Match Situation: He walked out to bat at No 5 in the 46th over, with the score being 301/3 at that time. There were 25 balls remaining with seven wickets in hand and India were looking for as big a total as possible.

Dhoni got out in the 50th over, with the score being 338/4 at that time. India eventually finished with 352/5 in 50 overs thanks to some Rahul fireworks right at the end.

Thanks to opener Shikhar Dhawan’s masterful 117 off 109, India were in a strong position when Dhoni came out to the middle. He was required to make that position even stronger and power his team to a mammoth total.

During Dhoni’s time at the crease, skipper Kohli went from 71 runs off 69 balls to 80 runs off 75 balls. This shows that Dhoni’s strike-rate was much higher than that of his partner when the two batted together. This, despite Kohli being the set batsman and Dhoni just walking into a pressure situation. Fair to say that the former skipper did what was required of him.

Match No 3

Opponent: New Zealand

Result: Match abandoned due to rain

Match No 4

Opponent: Pakistan

Result: India won by 89 runs [DLS Method]

Dhoni’s stay at the crease:

1, Out.

Balls Faced: 2; Runs Scored: 1; Strike-rate: 50.00; Fours: 0; Sixes: 0; Ones: 1; Twos: 0; Threes: 0; Dots: 0; Dot-ball percentage: 0.

Match Situation: He walked out to bat at No 5 in the 44th over, with the score being 285/3 at that time. There were 37 balls remaining with seven wickets in hand and India were looking for as big a total as possible.

Dhoni got out in the 46th over, with the score being 298/4 at that time. India eventually finished with 336/5 in 50 overs largely due to Sharma’s scintillating 140 off 113 at the top.

Kohli was well set [67 off 59] when Dhoni came to the crease. With Pandya back in the hut, and two not-so-big hitters in Shankar and Jadhav to follow, the senior batsmen were expected to provide the final flourish and put the game beyond Pakistan’s reach.

However, Dhoni uncharacteristically attempted a hoick off his second ball, that too against the in-form Mohammad Amir, and ended up nicking it to ‘keeper Sarfaraz Ahmed. India added 38 runs from 29 balls after he perished, which isn’t really great. They went on to win the match comfortably, but Dhoni’s outing with the bat was surely a disappointment.

Match No 5

Opponent: Afghanistan

Result: India won by 11 runs

Dhoni’s stay at the crease:

0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 4, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 4, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, Out.

Balls Faced: 52; Runs Scored: 28; Strike-rate: 53.85; Fours: 3; Sixes: 0; Ones: 16; Twos: 0; Threes: 0; Dots: 32; Dot-ball percentage: 61.54.

Match Situation: He walked out to bat at No 5 in the 27th over, with the score being 122/3 at that time. There were 143 balls remaining with seven wickets in hand and India were looking for as big a total as possible.

Dhoni got out in the 45th over, with the score being 192/5 at that time. India eventually finished with 224/8 in 50, a well-below-par total.

At the time the 37-year-old came to the crease, India had lost Sharma, Rahul and Shankar with not a lot on the board. Kohli was batting at the other end and the team needed a partnership to set the base for a final push.

Dhoni and Kohli spent 26 balls together in the middle. In that period, the Indian captain went from 58 runs off 53 balls to getting out for 67 runs off 63 balls. While his predecessor reached 4 runs off 16 balls, with 12 dots.

Now, the need of the hour when Dhoni came out to bat wasn’t for him to start smashing it from the get-go. But to face 12 dots in the first 16 deliveries simply isn’t on. Kohli felt the pressure of upping the ante and perished playing a rare, loose square-cut straight to short-third.

What’s worse, Dhoni’s strike-rate didn’t really go anywhere even after that. He gobbled up 52 deliveries in his innings, with a staggering 32 of them being dots. To face those many balls and have those many dots against your name is simply unacceptable. The right-hander is known to take his time initially and cover-up in the end with big hits but sadly for the team, he failed to find his range at all.

Match No 6

Opponent: West Indies

Result: India won by 125 runs

Dhoni’s stay at the crease:

0, 1, 0, 4, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 4, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 6, 0, 0, 4, 0, 6.

Balls Faced: 61; Runs Scored: 56; Strike-rate: 91.80; Fours: 3; Sixes: 2; Ones: 24; Twos: 4; Threes: 0; Dots: 28; Dot-ball percentage: 45.90.

Match Situation: He walked out to bat at No 6 in the 29th over, with the score being 140/4 at that time. There were 127 balls remaining with six wickets in hand and India were looking for as big a total as possible.

Dhoni remained not-out at the end of 50 overs, with India having a below-par total of 268/7.

The right-hander scored 18 runs off the first 38 deliveries he faced, with 25 of them being dots. Just like the previous game, Dhoni had a well-set Kohli at the other end when he came into bat and a platform was needed for Pandya to exploit at the end.

The two senior batsmen spent 57 deliveries together at the crease and during that phase, Kohli went from 51 off 57 to getting out for 72 off 82, while Dhoni had scored 17 off 32 in that period with 20 dots. The skipper was unable to convert a fourth successive half-century into a big one.

Dhoni soaking up so many deliveries seemed to have an effect on Kohli’s state of mind as he perished playing another uncharacteristically loose pull-shot straight to mid-wicket. India needed the former captain to keep the scoreboard ticking and if it wasn’t for Pandya’s 38-ball 46, the team would’ve been in serious trouble.

Dhoni’s 16 runs off his last six balls went a long way towards hiding his struggle at the crease. There was a gap of 41 deliveries between his first and second boundary. “It’s his first boundary in 16 overs,” Sourav Ganguly didn’t fail to notice on air.

Match No 7

Opponent: England

Result: India lost by 31 runs

Dhoni’s stay at the crease:

0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 4, 0, 1, 0, 2, 1, 4, 1, 1, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 4, 1, 1, 6, 0, 1.

Balls Faced: 31; Runs Scored: 42; Strike-rate: 135.48; Fours: 4; Sixes: 1; Ones: 18; Twos: 1; Threes: 0; Dots: 7; Dot-ball percentage: 22.58.

Match Situation: He walked out to bat at No 6 in the 40th over, with the score being 226/4 at that time. India needed 112 runs to win from 65 balls.

Dhoni remained not-out at the end of 50 overs, with India’s score being 306/5.

The first ball he faced was a harmless one by Liam Plunkett, well outside the off-stump. He put his arms in the air and left it alone, with the asking rate being 10.4 at that time. That was the first sign of what lay ahead – one of Dhoni’s most inexplicable outings with the bat.

He had Pandya for company when he came to the crease. They had a difficult task at hand but not an impossible one. But once Pandya perished, Dhoni and Jadhav simply gave up. India needed 71 off 31 when they got together and the duo ended up remaining not-out, with their team losing by 31 runs.

Dhoni faced 31 deliveries and just five of them earned him boundaries. What’s more disturbing is that of the rest of the 26 balls, he tried to find the fence in just seven. The rest were played with no intent of getting a four or six. He’d looked lackluster in his previous two innings but this one was a plain shocker.

Match No 8

Opponent: Bangladesh

Result: India won by 28 runs

Dhoni’s stay at the crease:

0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 1, 4, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 2, 4, 0, 0, 4, 1, 0, 0, Out.

Balls Faced: 33; Runs Scored: 35; Strike-rate: 106.06; Fours: 4; Sixes: 0; Ones: 12; Twos: 2; Threes: 1; Dots: 13; Dot-ball percentage: 39.39.

Match Situation: He walked out to bat at No 6 in the 39th over, with the score being 237/4 at that time. There were 68 balls remaining with six wickets in hand and India were looking for as big a total as possible.

Dhoni got out in the 50th over, with the score being 311/7 at that time. India eventually finished with 314/9 in 50, a decent but tricky total.

The former skipper came to the middle in a difficult situation. Kohli and Pandya had perished in the same over and India had just Karthik to follow. Pant was at the other end and the team needed a free-flowing partnership to reach a winning total.

When Pant got out for 48 off 41 at the start of the 45th over, Dhoni had faced 12 balls with seven of them being dots. Again, he’d come to bat just as the final powerplay was about to begin and had soaked up way too many dot balls before hitting his first boundary.

Dhoni needed to keep the scoreboard ticking as soon as he came in. He faced 33 deliveries in his innings and scored just 35. One could argue that he at least added some runs to the total when Pandya and Karthik failed, but it wouldn’t be unfair to expect him to score around 50 is he’s surviving for those many balls.

Concern remains

The issue with Dhoni’s batting is undeniable. Perhaps, with age slowing his reflexes, he needs that extra bit of time to get his eye in. But his job description is such that he can’t afford to play the number of dots he usually does. Not only does that leave him with a lot to do later, but it also kills the momentum of a set batter at the other end.

He did a fine job in the first two games against South Africa and Australia, but his performances in the last five matches have been far from convincing. Even if a glimpse at the scorecard tells you otherwise.

India’s opponents in the semi-final will surely be aware of this weakness. It’s almost as if all they need to do is bowl with discipline and Dhoni will do the rest for them – take his own sweet time and shift the momentum.

If he can bounce back, as he has done on many occasions in his illustrious career, India will be a handful for any opponent. But if Dhoni continues to bat with the same sense of fear, his team will be at a major disadvantage on the biggest stage.