A tale of two half-centuries

Rohit Mahajan

The Tribune News Service

Sydney, March 26

Six minutes past ten last night at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, walking his heavy gait, plonking down his bat every few steps, beat a sad retreat into the pavilion. His head was bowed, his face was set and his eyes were unseeing. The end of his reign as the king of a champion team was imminent. Dhoni’s last innings in this World Cup -- very likely his final innings in 50-over World Cups -- had ended in a rout of the team. Ninety-four minutes into his innings, he desperately sought a run against Glenn Maxwell, who hit the stumps with a nerveless, unerring throw. India’s best runner was out stealing a mere single when the team needed sixers.

Dhoni came back a diminished batsman after his final innings of this World Cup; contrary to the way he’d come back as a colossus after his final innings at the 2011 World Cup. He’d ended that knock and that match with a six, a shot that was heard round the cricket world. In that knock, Dhoni was the preserver of the innings, the destructor of Sri Lanka’s attack. In Sydney, Dhoni was the desperate repairer of India’s innings, ending in failure.

When Dhoni came in, at No. 6, India needed 221 from 27 overs, at 8.18 an over. India needed singles and doubles interspersed with a sixer or a four. With top hitters Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina gone, Dhoni had only Ajinkya Rahane to work with. After them was the tail.

Dhoni, thus, played the nudger and the pusher. He dropped the ball and ran hard; he squired the ball past men fielding in positions behind the square; for 22 balls, he did this. The required run rate was up to 9.55. Dhoni smashed his 23rd ball down the ground for four, and got another the same over, bowled by Josh Hazlewood, by slashing the ball over slip. Rahane fell, there was a slowdown as non-batsman Ravindra Jadeja came in. The Indians in the stands began to exit. The taunts of the Australians were becoming unbearable. “We had posters saying ‘Won’t give it back’, and the Australian fans were making fun of us!” said one Indian fan later.

Dhoni kept his cool, no one does cool as coolly as Dhoni does. Then, out of the blue, he hit two sixers off two balls from Shane Watson. Dhoni had asserted himself; he had reminded the fans of his mighty presence. But the dangerous gunman had only those two bullets left. He had spent them. That was his final, inadequate contribution in the chase.

He was dropped by Michael Clarke -- in the press box, we joked that Dhoni must have told Clarke: “You’ve just dropped the World Cup.” But not really. Dhoni doesn’t do chirping, and the situation was anyway irretrievable, surely beyond his great powers.

He fell soon after, out from a direct hit, ending with 65 off 65. He was beaten. He was not disgraced -- it seemed possible that if any one of the top order batsmen had hung around to support him, Dhoni would have challenged Australia more strongly.

If 2011 was a triumph, 2015 was a downfall. India could not beat Australia the whole winter.

Dhoni had come in at No. 5 in the final in the 2011 final. At No. 4, he averages 70 from 18 innings. There is a strong case for him to bat above No. 6, because he remains the team’s coolest batsman. He needs more overs and time to do his stuff with the bat.

But time could well be running out for Dhoni. He’ll be 34 in July, and he’s retired from Test cricket. Inevitable questions have been raised about his plans --could he simply walk away, the way he did from Test cricket? He won’t tell now, but promises that he’d do exactly opposite of what the media imagine he would.

Four years ago, soon after winning the title, Dhoni was almost emotionless as he discussed that victory with the media. Yesterday, he seemed similarly unaffected. He said he was not emotional about the defeat; he said the World Cup didn’t really belong to India, because the World Cup is “something that doesn't really belong to anyone”.

As for himself, Dhoni has shown he still belongs, despite his and the team’s failure to win the one really significant match of the tournament.

Australian media takes potshots at Dhoni

There was hope for India for as long as MS Dhoni was still at the crease, but in the semifinal of the World Cup the Indian skipper simply gave up. It was a superb throw, but Dhoni seemed to retire halfway down the pitch. There was no dive, no last-ditch attempt to make his ground, he simply ran straight down the tunnel. And with him vanished India's last sliver of hope.
 — The Daily Telegraph

Any questions over whether Australia's total of 328/7 would be enough were answered, although the nerves did not subside until Dhoni's bizarre 65 was brought to an end. Dhoni mysteriously held back a final assault on the distant victory target and it was only then that he began to put the foot down, belting Shane Watson for two sixes in a row. — Sydney Morning  Herald

Dhoni came back a diminished batsman after his final innings of this World Cup; contrary to the way he'd come back as a colossus after his final innings at the 2011 World Cup. He'd ended that knock and that match with a six, a shot that was heard round the cricket world.