Is Mahendra Singh Dhoni batting too cautiously?

Mahendra Singh Dhoni unleashed a couple of blistering shots against England on Sunday. It was all Dhoni had to offer to fans who turned up to watch his big hitting prowess. But the discerning few would have realised by now that Dhoni is no longer the dasher but has transformed into an accumulator of runs.

It is almost as if the star batsman ditched his high-risk game the day he snipped his long locks. Is the pressure of captaincy affecting Dhoni’s game to such an extent that he is probably doing more harm than good to the team by playing the role of an anchor?

Former chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar doesn’t want to single out Dhoni for the team’s failure but believes that India needs the dasher Dhoni in the shortest version of the game.

“Players like Dhoni are at their best when they go for their shots in Twenty20. India needs Dhoni to play his natural game in Twenty20. He can’t play Twenty20 cricket like one-dayers. He can drop anchor in ODIs and score ones and twos but such an approach won’t reap benefits in Twenty20,” Vengsarkar told DNA from London.

Former India coach Aunshuman Gaekwad believes Dhoni is taking a calculated risk. “As you grow older you become mature and your thinking changes. Dhoni is gaining cricketing maturity with each passing day. Your batting style also changes with maturity,” Gaekwad opined.

“Dhoni has donned a grafter’s role. He also has to take up the responsibility whenever the situation demands.” Gaekwad said one should not dwell much into Dhoni’s recent performances in the World Twenty20.

Lalchand Rajput, who was a coach-cum-manager of the Indian team which won the inaugural edition of the World Twenty20 in South Africa, said captaincy has made Dhoni more cautious. “Being captain of the team comes with a lot of responsibility. You can’t play your natural game always. A captain has to lead by example. His batting is only being criticized because India failed to defend the Twenty20 title,” Rajput said.
—Inputs Nihal Koshie