My favourite MSD test innings among others is 4th Test of IndVsEng series this year, at Manchester - Coming in at 8 for 4, and seeing team at 60 odd for 6, Dhoni showed he doesn't need orthodox technique to handle the impeccable swing bowling by England.
When all the batsmen, whom critics claimed as possible future greats of Test Cricket, were back in hut, it was Dhoni who batted with the tail to avoid further humiliation and to get team score past 150. And the technique he used -
(1) eliminate catch to slip cordon by shuffling to offstump and move forward..
(2) To tackle the short ball from that awkward angle - get hit on chest.
That is a TRUE SOLDIER tackling swords with empty hands, and ready to biting the bullets fired at him. Don't say Dhoni doesn't have technique. He just had a different technique, that most of you can't understand.
Yes, Dhoni has the worst batting average among Indian batsmen, outside Asia. But how many of them had to ignore the run scoring opportunities and change their batting style to play with tail more often? Did they compare the average of No.7 all over the world? And did any of top 6 batsmen had to keep wickets, or do captaincy?
And regarding the criticism about the team's overseas failure under him and that he brought the team to No 1 position then let it go to gutters (currently No 6 ranking). People just forgot he had been captaining under the worst of times. For half the time after the peak of the team, the FAB 3 (except Dravid - note that it is FAB3 and not FAB 4, as Ganguly already retired) and Sehwag, Gambhir have been constantly deteriorating in their forms before their exit. And the remaining half - the youngsters were just gaining exposure before they could produce results. No need to mention the quality of Indian bowlers at his time.
And don't forgot - even Australia and England have a worse away record in the last few years. And Dhoni maintained his fortress (home) impenetrable except for the home series against England. That is definitely a great success.
We will always analyse every person based on results. Little do we care about their participation and the valour with which they fought. MSD might look like a big failure if we analyse MSD's captaincy and MSD's batting in that way. But, to me, he did his best, and he deserves better respect.
Yes, I did have one unfilled expectation from MSD - why didn't he promote him up to No 4 or No.5 and build his batting strength and average and score more centuries in Tests.. But may be that's a lot to ask from a person, who already did a lot. We do keep increasing the expectations whenever a person performs well at his current level.
#MSDRetires #KingDeparts
When all the batsmen, whom critics claimed as possible future greats of Test Cricket, were back in hut, it was Dhoni who batted with the tail to avoid further humiliation and to get team score past 150. And the technique he used -
(1) eliminate catch to slip cordon by shuffling to offstump and move forward..
(2) To tackle the short ball from that awkward angle - get hit on chest.
That is a TRUE SOLDIER tackling swords with empty hands, and ready to biting the bullets fired at him. Don't say Dhoni doesn't have technique. He just had a different technique, that most of you can't understand.
Yes, Dhoni has the worst batting average among Indian batsmen, outside Asia. But how many of them had to ignore the run scoring opportunities and change their batting style to play with tail more often? Did they compare the average of No.7 all over the world? And did any of top 6 batsmen had to keep wickets, or do captaincy?
And regarding the criticism about the team's overseas failure under him and that he brought the team to No 1 position then let it go to gutters (currently No 6 ranking). People just forgot he had been captaining under the worst of times. For half the time after the peak of the team, the FAB 3 (except Dravid - note that it is FAB3 and not FAB 4, as Ganguly already retired) and Sehwag, Gambhir have been constantly deteriorating in their forms before their exit. And the remaining half - the youngsters were just gaining exposure before they could produce results. No need to mention the quality of Indian bowlers at his time.
And don't forgot - even Australia and England have a worse away record in the last few years. And Dhoni maintained his fortress (home) impenetrable except for the home series against England. That is definitely a great success.
We will always analyse every person based on results. Little do we care about their participation and the valour with which they fought. MSD might look like a big failure if we analyse MSD's captaincy and MSD's batting in that way. But, to me, he did his best, and he deserves better respect.
Yes, I did have one unfilled expectation from MSD - why didn't he promote him up to No 4 or No.5 and build his batting strength and average and score more centuries in Tests.. But may be that's a lot to ask from a person, who already did a lot. We do keep increasing the expectations whenever a person performs well at his current level.
#MSDRetires #KingDeparts
