It’s fashionable to go after MS Dhoni’s head these days, says a report in The Indian Express, adding that a cry that has reached a crescendo after the last game in Kanpur where he failed to get the 11 runs needed against a 20-year old bowler in the last over of the game.
“Everyone wants him to go, no one is saying who will replace him. Is there anyone whose spot Dhoni is supposedly blocking who can come in and be the finisher? With Dhoni, India is at least reaching the final over of the contests, without him who knows what will happen. Or to put in other words, what if Dhoni retires tomorrow? Will that solve Indian cricket’s problem of not being able to close the chases?” says the IE report.
Meanwhile a report in the Livemint says that his high-stakes poker approach to a limited-over run chase, where Dhoni would back himself to pull off a win through a late charge, has shown signs of backfiring, with India botching up routine run chases over the last 18 months.
“His failing finishing skills were there were for all to see at Kanpur, but warning signs were evident as early as last year when India lost a T20 international against England. Chasing 180, India needed 16 off Chris Woakes’ last over. Dhoni managed 13 in that over, but his refusal to take a single—not once but twice, and that too in the company of established batsman Ambati Rayudu—left him with having to get 5 off the last ball. This time Dhoni couldn’t pull it off,” adds the report, stating that these were situations Dhoni would thrive in not so long ago. Today, the delay is clearly not working.
A report in Hindu Business Line says the "helicopter shot" has disappeared, the boundaries are not flowing from his bat and the whisper is now growing louder that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is no more the middle-order finisher who could single-handedly get India over the line. “Even for his ardent fans, and he is still the most popular player in the cricket-mad country, it was painful to watch Dhoni struggle in Sunday's one-day series opener against South Africa. Time and again, he tried the big shots that once came out of his blade with amazing regularity and time and again he could not connect. Known for his penchant to seal victory with a six, exhibited famously in the final of the 2011 World Cup, Dhoni managed only one boundary in his 31-ball ordeal as the wheels came off India's chase in the final overs in Kanpur,” says the report.
