MS Dhoni is truly the leader India look up to. Against the West Indies in the Pool B match of the World Cup, he came to the WACA crease when India had lost four wickets at a score of 78. There was immense pressure to save the match.
The most demanding bit was to build partnership and after dependable Suresh Raina got out and that reduced India to 107 for five, India were staring at an impending defeat. The dismissal of Ravindra Jadeja made it worse.
This was the most crucial moment when the match could have gone either way. If Dhoni would have lost his wicket, a defeat at the hands of the West Indies was inevitable. But the captain cool stood his ground and ensured India from further hiccups.
The fact that Dhoni is the best finisher of the game was at display once again in Perth on Friday. No one from the top-order could resist the nagging West Indies pace attack. Starting from Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane to Suresh Raina – all of them got starts, but failed to stay till the end.
Earlier, both the openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan got out early. So, the stage was left for Dhoni to bail India out. His knock was a mixed of aggression and cautiousness. The West Indies bowler got a lot of swing and eventually unsettled the Indian batsmen. But Dhoni was unperturbed.
He knew his job was to cross the winning line and there was nothing in his mind except that. In the past whenever Dhoni was asked “why doesn’t he bat up the order”, his answer has been how he likes to play out the innings. Friday was one such day when India needed Dhoni to bat in the lower-middle order. And like always, he did and won the game for India.
Later, like a true leader, Dhoni credited his bowlers for the win. “The bowlers did a very good job. They didn’t try too much, they struck to their line and length,” the captain said after India’s four wicket win over the West Indies.
Today was the day when some of the followers of the game felt that the World Cup is indeed happening in Australia and not in the sub-continent as evinced by 400 plus scores in recent matches. It was an even match between the bat and ball and Dhoni’s mettle came to play!
