MS Dhoni has his fair share of critics, and some of them even raise questions about the former India captain lasting till the World Cup 2019. The Jharkhand man is someone, who lets his bat do the talking, which was once again witnessed in India's first ODI match against Australia in Chennai on Sunday.
The wicket-keeper batsman was at his impeccable best at Chepauk. With a cool head on his shoulders, Dhoni, while the chips were down, played a brilliant innings to score 79 runs.
Dhoni of today is different when he initially burst onto the scene, where he would go all out and deal in sixes. He was, then, gradually, known as a big six-hitter.
However, the former India captain has matured with time, like fine wine, and plays according to the situation. He plays the waiting game for some time, and only unleashes the big shots at the fag end of the innings and also when necessary at the time, making him even more dangerous.
Such kind of batting skills also makes him an integral member of the India team, which comprises stroke-makers.
The same kind of innings was witnessed in the first ODI, as he walked onto bat when India were struggling at 64-4 in the 17th over. As he got his eye in, Dhoni used his big-hitting skills in the slog overs and changed gears to hit some lusty blows, which led Australia captain Steve Smith praising the former India captain, who hit four fours and two sixes in his masterful innings.
"MS (Dhoni) hit Jimmy (James Faulkner) pretty well in the end, wasn't ideal but that's cricket. MS is a quality player and dangerous at the end. We have got to be a bit better with our plans," said the Australia captain.
It was not only Dhoni, but Hardik Pandya was the other architect to resurrect India's first innings with some wonderful batting. Pandya scored 66-ball 83, which gave Dhoni time to accumulate runs with the former going big.
It was their sixth-wicket partnership of 118 runs that helped India score 281 runs, which eventually proved to be enough as the Men in Blue won the match 26 runs via D/L method.
