Opinion: Time to have new version of MS Dhoni: 'Dhoni .03'

To set the tone of this discussion, first, let's have a look at these famous quotes.

‘Class is permanent and form is temporary’; ‘Improvisation and evaluation is a continual process”.

MS Dhoni’s role in Indian ODI and T-20 series has been under public scrutiny for a while now. He certainly is not the same class act for the past couple of years, what he used to be a few years back. In current ODI series, true that he played a knock of run a ball 42 at Johannesburg in 4thODI but he disappointed in the 5thODI at Port Elizabeth. When he came to bat in 43rdover, the total was 236 for five. The stage was set for Dhoni to take India past 300, but he just couldn’t launch the attack, which has been his USP for all those years. It was palpable that one of the finest finishers of the game is waning.

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This makes me think if the time is up for Dhoni now?

Nobody will disagree with the fact that MS Dhoni is the pride of India. He is one among the greatest Cricketers the nation has produced. His achievements might not get reflected in the numbers, records & longevity (like that of Gavaskar & Tendulkar) but under his captaincy, the Indian team had been raising the performance bar higher.I in fact, rate him parallel to Kapil Dev in terms of impact on the game as well. Kapil was the first player in his class and he inspired a whole generation to pursue pace bowling.

Similarly, Dhoni started a new template of cricketers in India, which earlier belonged to Australia or West Indies only - a powerful and slick hitter, razor-sharp behind the stumps, easygoing and cool on the ground, the ability of leading from the front, dominating and possessing a unique art of controlling any situation in the game.

In 13 years of career, he has achieved everything which he could have sought inwildest of his dreams. It was Dhoni who took India to T-20 World Cup, ICC World Cup and ICC Champion’s Trophy triumph. Unresting here, he took India to the summit of ICC Test ranking and like a superman, he won the World Cup with swinging bat in the final match by sending the ball over the rope (World Cup 2011).

But now Dhoni is 36 ½ years old and we can not expect the same endurance level from him which he used to deliver five years back. The main problem with Dhoni’s style of batting is that he depends on hand-eye coordination and it is bound to decline with age.

However, as stated above, Dhoni is a class act and all we need is the resetting his role in the team. Despite the decline in his natural hitting abilities, Dhoni still has some unique selling points. He is sharp behind the stumps, he is frantic runner between the wicket and he brings plenty of experience on the table, which at times become very handy for Kohli. Moreover, God has given him a natural hawk-eye and he is normally spot-on with his decisions to go upstairs for DRS.

The need of the hour is to change Dhoni’sbatting order. Dhoni is no longer the best man to finish the innings at number six or seven. He, however, can still play a colossal role in mid overs, largely because of his ability to keep the scoreboard ticking by taking ones and twos. His ability to run fast between the wickets helps him in the course.

Sending Dhoni at four or five will also help Indian team to fix their middle order woes. Currently in the middle order, barring skipper Kohli, there is huge volatility and Dhoni can be the perfect companion to Kohli. As we saw in past, when Dhoni and Kohli bats together, they score with a rate of five-run per overs in just singles and doubles only.

When we unfold the pages of Dhoni's history, he played the role of Imran Khan from Pakistan who played amazingly in his last couple of years (with the bat). Like Dhoni, Imran was a hard hitter at number six/seven during his peak. In 1992 World Cup, 39 years old Imran promoted himself up the order. He spearheaded Pakistan’s batting in the middle of the innings. In the final of 1992 World Cup, Imran came at number three when Pakistan was reeling at the scoreline of 24 for 2. Imran built the innings with a very watchful 72 runs.

Indian thinktank needs to a take a cue from there. We saw the first version of Dhoni that is Dhoni:1 in 2004 – a hard-hitting flamboyant batsman, who would decimate Pakistan is its own backyard and won accolade from President Musharraf.We have also witnessed the second version of Dhoni, that is Dhoni:2 - launched in Sep 2007 with T20 World Cup victory– an astute leader with a knack for winning World Cups/big tournaments and leading from the front.

Before brand Dhoni becomes history,the time has come to have the final version of this series - Dhoni:03, which can be equally successful as the first two versions were.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)