Highlights
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Dhoni has ever played with his cricket to his own terms.
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He retired from Test cricket in December 2014 and Debate India’s limited-overs captaincy last month.
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He’s been at a prolific form because giving up India’s limited-overs captaincy.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was a week ago for the upcoming 10th edition of the Indian Premier League.
He won’t be playing anymore as a captain at least in the near future however, as a player he’ll continue to add to the team’s cause and express himself. He dreams of representing India in the 2019 World Cup in England and never captaining the national team will allow him to focus more on his batting.
Free from the burden of captaincy, Dhoni slammed his first ODI century in four years in January, contrary to England and forged his arrogance in Twenty20 Internationals in his 76-match career.
It has been a rollercoaster ride for Dhoni this season. After vacating the national group’s leading job, he was sacked as RPS leader for, and Australia’s Steve Smith was named the skipper of this side.
This following RPS, who made his IPL debut last season, finished seventh at the eight-team tournament. Underneath Dhoni, the team had managed to win only five of the 14 matches at the IPL 9. ()
Dhoni’s type was also a reason for concern for the side. He managed to score only 284 runs from 12 innings with only one thousand to his credit score.
Even before Dhoni stop as limited-overs captain, then he also showed signs that he’s ready to bat up the order as long as he plays cricket. He badly needed to spend some time in the crease which batting at No.4 or No.5 allowed him to.
In his very first game — contrary to England at January — after giving up captaincy, Dhoni neglected to get going and managed only 6 runs. But he bounced back strongly and demonstrated why he’s among the best to coping with pressure cooker scenarios when he joined forces with his longtime India teammate Yuvraj Singh to overcome early jitters that England bowlers had caused.
Dhoni had combined Yuvraj, who blasted his way for his 14th hundred, after India were decreased to 25/3 at 4.4 overs. But after getting out to a brief ball in his last game, Dhoni stayed calm under enormous pressure and with Yuvraj in another end toyed with the English assault.
Dhoni and Yuvraj placed on a 256-run rack for the fourth wicket, bettering their 148-run partnership, their 10th century-plus stand. , that came after a lengthy gap of four decades and 46 innings.
Reuters Photo
It took Dhoni that a litte within 10 years to register his first half-century at T20 Internationals. He struck a blistering 56 of only 36 balls against England in the third and last T20 at Bengaluru.
It turned out to be a unique knock against Dhoni, who a hit blazing 129 off only 107 balls, especially after his team was decreased to 57/6 in the 20th over.
Dhoni, who batted at No.6, was involved with a 151-run rack for the seventh wicket with Nadeem, who struck 53 off 90 balls to assist Jharkhand article 243/9.
Dhoni will perform at least 2 more matches at Vijay Hazare before he kit up for IPL 10, starting April 5. The upcoming big tournament for India is the Champions Trophy in England in June and fitness center will be crucial.
Though ageing, he’s among the fittest players at the group and fitness fanatic Virat Kohli would want athletic and in-form players to fly to England for the mega event.
India enter the tournament as defending champions and naturally as favourites. India are pooled alongside Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka in Group B.
Reuters Photo
