As far as MS Dhoni and his cricket career go, every ounce of the indomitable power he has showcased on the field has come from the immense control he’s always seemed to have at his disposal, whether it is with bat in hand or as the ultimate leader of cricketers. Even the much-publicized coolness and the unflappable demeanour have revolved around this very control. So much so that he’s looked at times to be capable of even controlling the uncontrollable, especially so when he wielded his power as Chennai Super Kings skipper for the first eight seasons in the IPL. If anything his poise in the middle as his army in yellow rampaged into the playoffs years after year used to be one of the highlights of T20 season. There’s never been an IPL where Dhoni hasn’t made his presence felt in the business end. But with less than three weeks to go for the playoffs, it’s likely that Dhoni won’t make it that far this time. Going into their clash against the Delhi Daredevils at Ferozshah Kotla on Thursday, not only are Rising Pune Supergiants languishing ominously near the bottom, they also face the prospect of having to win pretty much every match from hereon to have a chance of progressing. There were times when CSK found themselves in positions of strife where they needed an inspirational Dhoni to bail them out, which he never failed to do. But somehow it just doesn’t seem as inevitable as it used to this season. He doesn’t seem to wield the same power in the indigo blue of Pune like he used to in CSK’s yellow. For, Dhoni isn’t in control anymore. Not as captain, and certainly not as finisher. Take the run-chase against Royal Challengers Bangalore at their home-ground on April 22. Chasing 186 for victory, Dhoni had stitched up a fighting partnership with Ajinkya Rahane after three early setbacks — including Kevin Pietersen being retired-hurt. It was typical Dhoni. Even as the required run-rate kept rising rapidly, he focused on pushing the ball around, looking unperturbed and dragging the game towards the climax, the period where he has historically come into his own. But here as the rate climbed past 14-an-over, Dhoni did something he generally doesn’t, he panicked. Out came the desperate heaves, and soon one of them landed up safely in long-off’s hands. Dhoni was gone for 41 off 38. He had batted his team into a position from where there was no way out. It isn’t the only time Dhoni has hardly found his hitting range, and struggled to build on run-a-ball starts. Last week, it was Dhoni the captain who wasn’t quite at his unflustered best. Pune had snuck their way back in with two wickets in the 19th over. Then Ashoke Dinda followed Suresh Raina with a delivery down leg-side, which trickled past a diving Dhoni to the fine-leg fence. The Pune captain lay there shaking his head and rubbing his distinctive nose in the grass. In a way it was symbolic of what opposition teams have done to Pune so far. While Dhoni’s lack of expression used to be his trademark in seasons gone by, this year it’s been the constant disenchanted shaking of his head. It’s like with Pune he’s learnt to give up, especially on the field. Adding injuries to insult Having said that, the Supergiants have also had to contend with a serious of unfortunate events, especially in terms of injuries. Already four of their most high-profile foreign buys have returned home. You wonder how Dhoni looks back at calling Pietersen’s departure a blessing in disguise now. Since then, Pune have had to bid farewell to their most consistent batsman, Faf du Plessis, their most effective bowler in Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith, whose scores leading up to his injury read 46 not out, 101 and 45. What’s worse, R Ashwin hasn’t come to the party at all. At Chennai, he was Dhoni’s go-to man. Apart from giving him the new-ball, Ashwin was the bowler who was picked on whenever the going got tough. It was in fact during the early years at CSK that Dhoni and Ashwin formed the partnership that would then be replicated for many years to come in India colours. But at Pune, Dhoni has often had to look elsewhere for inspiration. Only twice in eight matches has Ashwin even bowled out his full quota of overs. But at least Ashwin has gone at only 7-an-over. All his other regular bowlers have gone at well over 8, and not allowed Dhoni to wrest control of proceedings the way he likes to. A Dhoni-led team lost four matches on the trot for the first-time ever in IPL history this year. He had spoken about ‘feeling different’ and struggling to ‘move on’ from CSK before the tournament. And he’s often alluded to missing out on the stability and options that he had with CSK while lamenting about each loss that he has had to contend with. CSK’s success was built on continuity and consistency, but circumstances haven’t allowed Dhoni that luxury with the Supergiants. No wonder then that George Bailey, one of Dhoni’s old-time Chennai loyalists, has been called in to shore up his team’s dwindling fortunes. Maybe Dhoni is just looking to replicate the atmosphere of yore as much as he can, if only to hit the power button and regain his customary control, regardless of whether it results in the Supergiants fixing their win-loss ratio or not.
