IPL 2018: MS Dhoni's move up the batting order has helped the CSK captain reinvent his explosive batting style

During Saturday’s match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), while successfully chasing a tricky total of 127, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were initially cautious in their approach as they were content with rotating the strike and hitting an odd boundary. CSK captain MS Dhoni made his way into the centre after Ambati Rayudu was caught at short third man off Murugan Ashwin in the 12th over. CSK needed 50 off 53 to put RCB’s playoff plans in jeopardy. When the second timeout was taken at the end of the 15th over, CSK hadn’t scored a single boundary in 27 balls and the team needed 39 off 30 deliveries. [caption id=“attachment_4457779” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] MS Dhoni of the Chennai Super Kings hits a shot against the Royal Challengers Banaglore. Sportzpics [/caption] Dhoni had faced 11 balls, scoring just five runs off them. In the 16th over, he scored his first boundary. The Virat Kohli-led RCB still believed they could restrict the famed CSK batting and pull off an improbable win. This belief was strengthened when Colin de Grandhomme’s 17th over went for just six runs and Dhoni’s strike rate was a paltry 70.5. Kohli then tossed the ball to India’s premier wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal to attempt to stifle Dhoni and take the target away from CSK’s grasp. CSK needed 22 off 18. What followed was something neither Chahal nor Kohli would have expected, but something that they should have anticipated considering the present purple patch in Dhoni’s career. Dhoni hit three consecutive sixes off Chahal to finish the match in the 18th over. Television pundits and even commercials allude to the fact that this Dhoni 2.0 is a throwback to the then 26-year-old cricketer from Jharkhand, whose reputation made him the most expensive buy of the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League. The IPL is into its fifth week and CSK have played 10 matches so far. There are widespread and unanimous opinions that Dhoni has successfully turned the clock back to deliver one masterclass after another in finishing matches. So, here’s a graphical representation of his performances from the previous editions of IPL at the exact same mark of 10 matches to see if the opinions actually add up. Just by looking at the runs column, the opinions are not far-fetched as Dhoni scored two half-centuries and five 30+ scores in 2008 after playing 10 matches to reach a total of 332 in IPL 2008. In 2018, he’s scored three half-centuries and two 30+ scores to amass 360 runs. However, the interesting facet of this particular comparison between 2008 and 2018 is not in the run column but in the strike rate. While a 26-year-old Dhoni’s strike rate in the inaugural edition was close to 120, the same has jumped to 165.9 in the ongoing edition. Coming up the order and taking his time to settle and then unleashing those powerful strokes when required has also seen him score three half-centuries for the first time at the 10-match mark in IPL. In the past five years — three with CSK and two with Rising Pune Supergiants — Dhoni batted down the order and this reflected in his string of scores in those seasons. The CSK think tank’s decision to send Dhoni up the order more regularly has worked wonders for the former Indian captain’s and CSK’s fortunes in this season. Dhoni is often heralded as one of cricket’s best-ever finishers and his knocks this year further cements that legacy. The noticeable change in his approach to the game is how the 37-year-old has been hitting sixes with ease in IPL 11. Clearing the fence was never a problem for Dhoni, but it wasn’t always his go-to approach. Dhoni has enjoyed converting those ones into twos and sneaking in those boundaries at opportune moments. However, in 2018, Dhoni has transformed himself into this six-hitting beast as he has smashed 27 sixes to 19 fours in the 10 matches so far. His previous best was the 14 sixes he hit in the first 10 matches of the 2013 edition, while the maximum fours hit by Dhoni was in the first-ever IPL where he smashed an impressive 31 hits to the fence. A look at the number of boundaries Dhoni has hit over the years speaks volumes of his ability to take controlled risks and not swing his bat at anything and everything. The statistics do add credence to the opinions that Dhoni has reinvented himself and is a treat to sore eyes when he is on song, which in this edition, has been almost in every match. However, it is not just the stats that have made Dhoni a fascinating story in this year’s IPL. Among many other things, it is that nonchalance in dispatching the wide yorkers to the boundary, the steely gaze when he sends the ball flying past long off, the controlled swivel when he slog-sweeps the spinners and the self-belief that he can accelerate the innings whenever he wishes to. Most importantly, in 2018, Dhoni has reinstated the belief in the CSK dugout and in the minds of the fans that as long as he is batting, a win is just a shot away. It’s been a while, but nevertheless, Mahi maar raha hai.