A six off the first ball of a run chase’s final over to kill the game and bring up a half-century is vintage MS Dhoni.

After Virat Kohli’s 39th ODI ton set up the victory in the second ODI, Dhoni’s undefeated 55 off 54 balls ensured India levelled the series against Australia with a game to go, securing a six-wicket win after Shaun Marsh’s century and Glenn Maxwell’s cameo had set the tourists 299 to win.

These days, slow starts can be fatal, and considering India’s comparatively long tail in white-ball cricket, there is still a heap of pressure on India’s No.6 to see his side home.

The opposition has to be taken into account, too. Dhoni is batting against a second-string attack of a team who have won just four of their last 23 completed ODIs.

Without Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, the four frontline bowlers had just 21 caps between them going into this series. Against an attack this inexperienced on pitches this good, chases between 280 to 300 should be comfortable for a side bidding for World Cup glory.

We all know that few are as cool as Dhoni in a run-chase. But recently, and even today, he has been more becalmed than calm. While he has batted fairly well during this series – he has been dismissed just once for his 106 runs – he is no closer to dispelling doubts about his ability to contribute to posting or chasing monster scores against the high-calibre attacks, which is what is required if India are to win this year’s World Cup.