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No Slips In Place

A subtler M.S. Dhoni lays siege to the castle offering cricketing glory

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No Slips In Place
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Dhoni backed Ishant Sharma to the hilt

He's taken another big call—pertaining to his own batting. Dhoni has moved from intuitive force to rational repose. Repose, of course, may not be the apt word to describe Dhoni scampering around for singles like a man possessed. But there is a singularity and strength of mind in the way he has cut out the thrills to bat with discipline that recalls the quality. The 50 in the crucial win over Sri Lanka at Adelaide, for instance, was made without a single boundary. Robin Uthappa calls the changed Dhoni an inspiration. "If he can change, if he thinks that if he stays until the end and win the game for us, we also can think and play like that," he says.

Is this sedate batting style difficult for a man whose early reputation was built on big hits? "It's quite difficult," says Dhoni. "Sometimes, the easiest option is to go after the bowler, but the tough thing is to stay there, battle through...I try to play according to the demands of the game."

The demands of the game are only getting tougher, especially for Dhoni, the captain, and the most expensive cricketer in the world. The $1.5 million Chennai paid for his services in the IPL has left people here in Australia with mouths agape, but money is not a preoccupation. "It's not that cricketers didn't have money before the IPL," says a close friend. "So all that talk, that these sudden riches would end motivation, is baseless. Mahi, in any case, knows what's enough for him—he's satisfied with what he's got."

For now, the Indian selectors are also satisfied with him. "It's important for any batsman to adapt quickly, and that's what he's done," Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of the Indian selection committee, told Outlook. "And as captain, it's good that he believes in himself and his decisions, backs his boys to the hilt." Adds Lalchand Rajput, the assistant Indian coach, "He's mentally very, very strong, and that's the reason captaincy hasn't affected his game. He backs the players, the players also have faith in him, and so they want to perform for him and the team." Rajput says captaincy hasn't changed Dhoni. "As a person, he's still the same—plays hard in the middle, comes back and has a good time," he told Outlook.

Dhoni may not have changed, but perception about him is changing. He was seen as a man of brute force, innocent of the subtleties and technique of batsmanship and unsure with his glovework. But now it's clear that such initial assessments were erroneous. Dhoni is a man of many facets, unbending and uncompromising. And that can yet translate into great things for Indian cricket.

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