MS Dhoni's Gamble: How India's master finisher lost the plot against England

MS Dhoni likes to play the odds. He also likes to back himself. With seventeen required for India to win from the final over, Dhoni decided the odds favoured him facing every ball in the last over rather than let Ambati Rayudu have a swing or two. Today, that approach appeared to cost India a match they should have won. It looked like it would be Dhoni and India’s day again when he slammed Chris Woakes for six off the first ball. A scampered two off the second meant India needed nine from four. It looked then like a typical Dhoni chase that he was taking down to the wire, but that’s when Dhoni decided to treat Rayudu like a tailender. He turned down a single off the next ball and after just about muscling Woakes over mid-off for a boundary, did it again when India needed five from two. That left Dhoni needing essentially a six off the final delivery to win, a four to tie. He could manage only one. Add the single he turned down off the last ball of the 19th over and that adds up to the three runs India needed to tie the game. [caption id=“attachment_1701359” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Dhoni and Rayudu leave after India lost the match. AP[/caption] But should Dhoni take the fall for India’s defeat? Dhoni is the best finisher in limited-overs cricket and you’d back him to succeed more than he fails. But former India Sourav Ganguly was in no doubt that Dhoni had made a tactical error, “He [Dhoni] is human. He will make mistakes. Vivian Richards made mistakes. Sachin Tendulkar made mistakes under pressure." “What he [Dhoni] did today was not right. It is a game which he has lost for India today.” Ganguly felt that Dhoni should have trusted Rayudu and not taken the entire responsibility on his own shoulders. It is one thing when you are batting with a tailender, it is another when you have a recognised batsman at the other end, Ganguly said. Dhoni’s rationale was that he was spent more time at the crease and was middling the ball, whereas Rayudu had only faced five deliveries and hadn’t timed any. To be fair, if Dhoni had knocked off the runs, everyone would be talking about how he had pulled off another last-over chase. He could also have trusted Rayudu, who might have smashed the ball or had a wild heave and been bowled. The thing is we will never know what would have happened if Dhoni had made a different decision. Yet his decision-making can be scrutinised. After Dhoni had managed eight from the first two balls, the equation had changed. Nine from four meant India could afford a single or two and still win the game. Rayudu also appeared confused about his role in the final over, hesitating when Dhoni wanted a second and running when Dhoni did not want a single. Trusting Rayudu may not have won the game for India in the end, but it would have reduced the pressure on Dhoni while also empowering Rayudu, possibly even raising the level of his game. After all, Rayudu has proved in the IPL for Mumbai Indians that he can play the big shots and finish a game off. Dhoni will know he opened himself up to criticism by deciding he alone could win the game. He is also likely to shrug it off because he believes in his thought process. This time though, Dhoni might do well to reconsider.