The IPL season 9 is over and it is that time of the year when India tours an invariably weak international side to kick off their new cricketing season and like last year the team will be touring Zimbabwe. This time the tour would comprise of 3 ODI’s and 3 T-20’s. A Majority of senior players like Kohli, Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Raina, R Ashwin and Jadeja being rested for this short tour. Zimbabwe had requested for a one off Test match but BCCI was in no mood to disturb its plans of resting the seniors after a long and gruelling cricket season.
This time though there is a twist in the tale with MS Dhoni leading the side instead of
Raina, Kohli and Rahane who had led on previous 3 Zimbabwe tours of 2010, 2013
and 2015 respectively. Dhoni despite
having retired from tests has played a lot of cricket in the past 3 months
starting from the tour of Australia, Asia Cup, T-20 World Cup and finally the
exhausting IPL season. No questions would have been asked of Dhoni had he opted
out of this tour citing fatigue. Dhoni by virtue of leading a bunch of
inexperienced players on this tour is trying to send a signal that he is not
willing to be bowed down by the
criticism levelled at him in recent times regarding his future as Indian
captain in limited overs format and as a
player indeed.
This tour of Zimbabwe might seem a walk in the park for some but
more than the results, this tour is extremely crucial for Dhoni in various
other aspects
1) Match practice and
fitness test-
Considering the schedule of Indian team for this season this tour is imperative
for Dhoni as far as match practice and fitness is concerned. India will be
playing a lot of Test cricket till the end of March 2017, 17 in all to be
precise. If Dhoni would have opted out of this tour he would not have got a
chance to play for India until the home series against New Zealand in Oct –Nov
later this year. Clearly Dhoni wants to keep himself match fit and play as many
limited overs cricket as possible with the crucial Champions trophy to be
played in England next year.
Dhoni has recently stated that his fitness is going to be
foremost importance if he wants to continue as an international cricketer. He
will be turning 35 next month and will be keen to prove that he indeed is as
fit as ever, an aspect of the game in which he has taken immense pride
throughout his international career. His fitness more than anything else is
going to be of uttermost importance if he wants to prolong his glorious career.
He must be having an eye on the Champions
trophy to be played in England next year and if indeed his body supports,
who knows he might as well play the 2019 ODI World Cup which seems far at this
moment.
2)Mentoring and
nurturing the rookies-The
quantum of inexperience of the team touring Zimbabwe can be gauged by the fact
that all the other 15 members barring Dhoni have a combined experience of 83 ODI’s and 28 T-20’s for India which is roughly one third of the appearances
of Dhoni for his country. Players of the likes of Karun Nair, Faiz Fazal, Mandeep
Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal and Jayant
Yadav have never represented their country at the international level. It
seems Dhoni has taken it upon himself to mentor this young and inexperienced
side. These youngsters should be looking to imbibe every bit of what Dhoni has
to advice them. The sheer presence of Dhoni in the dressing room, his work
ethics and match preparation should
help the youngsters immensely.
3) Rediscover his batting mojo back- MS Dhoni of lately has not been
in the best of batting form. He struggled in the IPL scoring just 284 runs in 14 matches with a solitary half century in the last match for Rising Pune Supergiants against Kings
XI Punjab. His strike rate of 135.23
was also modest considering IPL standards, which was boosted by his last match
winning knock of 64. Dhoni has also copped a lot of criticism for batting down
the order at no 6 or 7 in international cricket. This tour will give an
incentive to Dhoni in order to push himself up the order at no 4 or 5
considering the inexperienced batting order. Dhoni will be the senior most
player in the batting line up consisting of Karun Nair, Kedar Jadhav,
Ambati Rayudu and Faiz Fazal.
This tour might just see Dhoni batting freely without any inhibitions and at
his attacking best considering the mediocre Zimbabwe bowling attack. An in form
Dhoni will surely boost Team India.
4) A tour of challenges
and motivations- A
tour of Zimbabwe means a whitewash would be on the expected lines but a loss
even in a single match would irk the passionate Indian cricket fan. Dhoni will
be touring Zimbabwe after a gap of almost 11 years. He last played in Zimbabwe
on the 2005 tour which was famous for the Ganguly- Chappell spat. Dhoni was just
finding his feet in international cricket at that time. He will have his hands
full on this tour as he will have to adjust to the side full of greenhorns who
have virtually no experience of playing international cricket.
Dhoni is indeed a man
of rare intelligence and one who has a penchant for details knows that this
tour will be a rare opportunity to play in conditions assisting the bowlers which should stand the team in good stead when they play the Champions
Trophy in England albeit next year. All the matches will be played at Harare
and will be day games where the toss will be vital and adjusting to the seaming
conditions will be the key to his young team’s success.
5) Point to prove to the detractors--Recently Dhoni has seemed to have
broken from his Ice cool image on the field engaging in a fair bit of banter
with the media in press conferences. Whenever he has been asked about his
future, he has responded in a stern manner looking irritated and displeased at
this recurring theme in his interaction with the media. Dhoni has also stated
in the press conference before leaving for Zimbabwe that limited shelf life of
an international cricketer is his biggest driving force at this moment.
Recently Ravi Shastri
raised a few eyebrows when he suggested Kohli be made captain in the 3 formats
of the game and that Dhoni should play freely so that he can enjoy the game.
Dhoni cleverly bypassed the question diplomatically when he was asked about his
opinion on whether Kohli should be indeed made captain in all formats, by
stating that it was upon the BCCI to decide his future and also cleared the air
that he was indeed enjoying the game contrary to the popular opinions.
MS Dhoni has been the finest Indian captain and a veteran of 90 Tests, 275 ODI’s and 68 T-20’s who has been known to have
sprung many a surprises as a captain
and player throughout his career and who
knows he might well have some surprises on this seemingly mundane tour of Zimbabwe.
India squad for Zimbabwe tour: MS Dhoni (C), KL Rahul, Faiz Fazal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair,
Ambati Rayudu, Rishi Dhawan, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, J
Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Jaydev Unadkat and
Yuzvendra Chahal.
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