Kridaya Cricket Blog

So India won a TwentySeven22 match. The comings and goings of rain made the match a bit ridiculous, but finally India completely a thriller mainly because of Dhoni’s well struck 46 from 34 balls. West Indies may have squeaked a win if it weren’t for that six in the final over.

Shortened matches like these seldom provide good material, but this match was different. First thing is, India’s bowling is still under-performing. They don’t seem to get multiple breakthroughs to really put pressure on the opposition. The economy rate is also very poor. This is a collective problem. Let’s see if they can improve in the next game.

Bigger news is Rohit Sharma being demoted to No. 5. Rohit deserved it because of his poor performances, but whethere that is the only reason is not completely clear because we once again saw Dhoni promoting himself to No. 3. In any case, Rohit failed once again and unless he gets an opportunity to redeem himself in the next match, he will be ending a sorry run after the IPL.

Of course, Rohit Sharma’s entire ODI career has not been an exercise in greatness. He boasts 695 runs from 40 matches with an average of 24.82 and a strike rate of 72.24. That is not exactly great figures for a No. 3 batsman in one-dayers. His last fifty came almost a year ago. Should the question is: Does Rohit Sharma deserve an extended run in the team? (Below is a graph plotting his career ODI scores)

Finally, coming to Dhoni’s promoting himself, it is hard to criticize it based on what happened: Dhoni clicked, India won. But there is a strange pattern where Dhoni always seems to be coming when the openers have made a good start and there is less pressure on the team. jrod pointed this out during the World Twenty20.

Dhoni has more than proved that he is an effective ODI batsman. So why doesn’t he always come in at No. 3? In one-dayers, this would provide Dhoni enough time to build a long innings and contribute to the team’s success. It would also provide stability to the positions of the rest of the team. Also, his early innings notwithstanding, Dhoni is less of a big hitter than someone like Yuvraj or Yusuf Pathan. Coming earlier in the order would mean that either he would be in a good position to launch an assault or he would already have given way to the big hitters.

His floating position is a short-sighted tactic, a remnant of the Greg Chappell days. It could be temporarily beneficial to India allowing them to win a few games. But in the long-term, it could backfire. Dhoni will inevitably hit bad form at some point and then his inability to get moving will put pressure on the rest of the team, who are under-prepared.

So, for both India and Dhoni himself, he has to start picking up a permanent spot (No. 3 or whatever) and stick to it.