Dhoni, and the art of finishing a big T20 chase
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s still got it. And that’s great news for India, the knock coming on the eve of the announcement of the full schedule of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
The tournament will roll out in a little over a year from now, and the former India captain sent an emphatic reminder of his finishing abilities during the clash between Chennai Super Kings and Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday 25 April in the Indian Premier League 2018.
The 36-year-old hammered a 34-ball 70*, expertly, and typically, calculating what had seemed at best an improbable chase of 206. AB de Villiers had his own fireworks in the first innings, his 30-ball 68 helping Bangalore post a total Dhoni would later admit was “15-20 over par”.
And for a long while, Bangalore seemed on top, with Chennai needing 80 runs off the last six overs.
Dhoni was unfazed, though, as he guided Ambati Rayudu along in a 101-run stand for the fifth wicket. He knew exactly which bowler to target, pre-empted their plans, and went about hacking down the target.
Mohammed Siraj bowled well, but he wasn’t just up against Dhoni in fine form, he was up against someone who seemed to have turned back the clock, back to a time when there would only be one winner in these situations. That reputation had waned a fair bit, but here, Siraj felt the full weight of it, sending down three consecutive wides in the penultimate over, having restrained the flow of runs till that point.
Stephen Fleming, the Chennai coach, would later marvel at Dhoni’s game awareness. “His ability to let balls go for wide and his presence of mind never ceases to amaze,” said Fleming. “We haven't seen it as much, the gaps between (such) innings have been bigger, but in this IPL his batting has been excellent, and the innings today was one of the best ones I've ever seen.”
Chennai still needed 16 runs in the last over, but with Dwayne Bravo cracking a six and a fortunate four off the first two balls, the stage was set for Dhoni to finish it off with a trademark six. And that is just what happened as he pre-empted that Corey Anderson would attempt the wide yorker, stepped across to the off, and whipped him over long-on for a maximum.
Dhoni later provided a crash course on the role of a finisher – and the gist of it is that it’s not just about staying till the end and scoring runs. “What’s important is to know who are the bowlers that are left, what are the options (their) captain has got, who is their best bowler on that particular wicket and who you can take on when it comes to the conditions and the variations,” said Dhoni.
“I’ve always felt it’s quite simple – you may win a few games, and you may lose a few. The process is more important. If you keep doing the same, you keep improving.
“The people around you, if you can help them with who they can target according to their strength – not everybody knows what kind of game theirs is, and what really is their strength. That’s the job of a finisher. Of course, you can score runs, but if you can help others score, run the quick runs between the wicket, tell (them) what the bowler will be looking to do according to his batting style – all those things matter.
“It’s not just about me batting at the death, but sharing that with the youngsters and helping them get that experience. Tomorrow I may not be batting with them, I may get out, but he needs to do the job.”
And that, in short, is why he remains invaluable to Indian cricket. The experience, and his excellent reading of the game. The runs are flowing again now, but he brings much more to the table than just runs.
Even Fleming, who has worked closely with Dhoni for the best part of a decade and has seen these feats closely, revelled in the knock. “It was a Dhoni special and an amazing win,” he said. “We have some players who are experiencing this for the first time in our side; they were absolutely gobsmacked the way he finished this game... That one shot over point towards the end of the innings was one of the top three shots I have ever seen. I've seen a few in this game itself, with AB de Villiers, and in the context of the game, taking the score down to 21 was just ice-cool.”
For the record, the match witnessed a total of 33 sixes being hit, the most in an IPL game and only one off the overall mark of 34, achieved in a game between Central Districts and Otago in 2016. Of the 33, de Villiers and Rayudu hit eight each, while Dhoni hit seven.