MS Dhoni's raw numbers in the last few IPL seasons have been great, but dig deeper and they reveal some uncomfortable truths. As pressure on CSK's decorated former captain mounts, Aadya Sharma judges his impact on their cricket on the field.
“His body and knees aren’t what they used to be”.
“He can’t bat 10 overs running full stick”
On Sunday night, Stephen Fleming – IPL’s longest-serving head coach – officially stated what the world knew already about MS Dhoni: he’s a legendary cricketer in all senses, far from his prime, hampered in ability by age. Dhoni spent his career being an outlier in several ways, and that has extended deep into his IPL time too.
He turns 44 this year. In cricketing terms, it's ancient, and in wicketkeeping terms, it's prehistoric. And yet wicketkeeping isn't the issue. He can still effect micro-second stumpings, collecting wide balls and whipping off the bails in an instant. It's the batting that's under question.
Watch: 43-year-old MS Dhoni pulls off second lightning-quick stumping in two IPL matches
A quick look at Dhoni’s numbers since IPL 2023 will make you wonder what the fuss is about. He averages 39 and strikes at 196.
Until the age of 40 – IPL 2022 that is – Dhoni batted primarily from No.3 to No.7. Since the IPL 2023 (the year the Impact Player rule was introduced), he’s hardly batted at four or five, and pushed himself down to a No.6 to 9 role. The idea echoes what Fleming stated earlier: Dhoni’s knees don’t allow him to stick around for too long. He’s now forced to play fewer deliveries, which reduces his job description to a very specific requirement.
In the 2023 IPL – won by Chennai Super Kings – Dhoni batted more than ten deliveries just once in 12 innings. He batted at eight half the time, adding finishing touches for a team that had a strong top three, a floater in Ambati Rayudu and a spin-basher in Shivam Dube.
Even in a title-winning season, you could see the perils of having Dhoni in earlier. In their game against RR, he walked out at the end of the 15th over. CSK needed 63 off 30. R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal had an over each left. He managed 5 off 7 against those two. By the time he faced Adam Zampa, they needed 54 off 18. He hit him for 12 off 4, but RR eventually sneaked through with a three-run win.
In 2024, Dhoni had a superior strike rate and average. But CSK lost each of the four games where he faced more than ten deliveries.
In the last few years, Dhoni’s IPL showings are replete with such efforts: statistically impressive in isolation, but often belated, last-over charges that come after the match is already out of reach, appearing to appease a cheering crowd that still fills stands to watch him.
Also read: The Dhoni-fication of Chennai: How a small-town boy became an adopted 'God'
Take the DC game last year. Dhoni entered when CSK needed 72 off 23 balls. Along with Jadeja, he managed to bring the equation down to 46 off 12. The next over, Dhoni managed one off four, leaving CSK requiring 41 off 6. In a lost cause, he smashed Anrich Nortje for a 20-run final over, finishing on a 16-ball 37.
Batting later has helped mask Dhoni’s struggles against spin to a certain extent. With a 500-ball cutoff, Dhoni’s strike-rate against spin is the third-worst in IPL history, sandwiched between past players who featured at a different time. If you’re batting that low, you’re bound to deal with spin in the backend less. But teams have also exploited that on occasion too.
The Punjab game last year is another good example. Not out for seven games in a row, he entered in the 18th over, with CSK on 146-5. Rahul Chahar bowled the 19th – Dhoni managed two off four (he strikes at 108 against leg-spin).
With spin, the issue isn’t just Dhoni – he usually gets paired alongside Jadeja, who himself has a SR of 112.64 against spin, the sixth-worst in IPL history.
The case was similar on Sunday, with 45 needed off three. Maheesh Theekshana, once a CSK-ian, sent down an 18th over worth just six runs. Interestingly, Dhoni played at No.7 this time, ahead of Jamie Overton, who strikes at 183.69 at the death. Against spin, he strikes at 132.14, compared to Dhoni’s 109.22
In another game last year, against Gujarat Titans, Dhoni came in with CSK needing 67 off 20, with Jadeja again in the middle. Rashid Khan bowled the 19th, taking two wickets for two runs. With the game out of reach, Dhoni finished with 26 off 11.
CSK probably needed Dhoni the most against RCB last year, in a must-win game for the playoffs. Dube got stuck in a chase of 219, but when he got out on 7 off 15, Dhoni couldn’t afford to walk out yet. It was still the 14th over…
But he eventually had to, with 90 needed off 30. To qualify for the playoffs, it was a more doable 72 off 30, and there was no spin left either. By the time the last over came, CSK needed 17 off six to qualify. Dhoni, 19 off 11 then, hit a six, but perished next ball.
The issue is now a complex one: Dhoni’s record against spin is dubious, and his fitness doesn’t permit him to stay in the middle longer than a couple of overs. Thus, Dhoni’s realistically available for his few-ball cameos.
If that is coming at the expense of not fielding a fitter, more adaptable batter, CSK are letting cricketing judgement take a backseat.
Also read: Chennai fans and their Dhoni: A bond in need of redefinition
It also intertwines with how poor CSK have been since the start of IPL 2024. Their opening pair, once a strong suit, has managed an over-10 run-rate just once in 17 innings. In the middle overs, they have struck at 135.15, the second-lowest among all IPL teams. Against spin, their middle order is heavily reliant on Shivam Dube taking them through.
A stronger batting unit in 2023 allowed Dhoni to keep his cameos very brief. Now, he’s part of a bigger problem, delaying his entry points in a middle order struggling to keep up with other teams. Fleming still believes Dhoni remains valuable to the team.
"I said it last year [too], he's too valuable to us. Leadership and wicketkeeping - to throw him in nine-ten overs. He has actually never done that. So, look, from around 13-14 overs, he's looking to go depending on who's in”.
Back to the first point, then. He’s not the captain anymore, and can still be a leader from across the boundary line. As wicketkeeper, even though brilliant as a ten-second reel, Dhoni’s role is limited. As a batter, he can only work well if certain scenarios align with his fitness.
In an ideal world, Dhoni could have walked away draped in the glory of IPL 2023, a trophy in his arms. He decided to stick around, even through a mega auction, with the rules changed to allow him to be an ‘uncapped’ player, and he more recently promised to play for as long as possible. For many, he’s massively valuable to the entire event: in Chennai and elsewhere, he puts bums on seats. Not to say it doesn’t happen in an IPL match that doesn’t involve Dhoni. But how much longer will it go?
There’s no immediate transition in sight too. His role and responsibilities have diminished, but Dhoni’s still played every game since the Impact Player era, the most among all players in the competition. Ask most people who CSK’s domestic backup keeper is, and they won’t know Vansh Bedi. They have probably not even built a squad for a post-Dhoni situation, and that is a scary place to be.
In 2012, ODI captain Dhoni openly criticised the fitness standards of India’s seniors – Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, calling their fielding “slightly on the slower side”. In 2008, he potentially dropped Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in favour of retaining a core from the 2007 T20 World Cup.
Today, as the seniormost player, he is determining his entry point based on how fit he feels. A privately-run T20 league might seem different from international cricket, but it’s more embedded in India’s selection system than you’d think.
Last week, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad compared Dhoni to a decade-into-retirement Sachin Tendulkar still sparkling in the Legends League. It’s up to CSK and Dhoni to decide if they want to blur the line between that and the IPL.
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