The stumper wants his batting to show

Like any other cricket fan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni vividly remembers Sachin Tendulkar’s six off Shoaib Akhtar over point...

Like any other cricket fan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni vividly remembers Sachin Tendulkar’s six off Shoaib Akhtar over point and Virender Sehwag’s six over the covers in the 2003 World Cup match against Pakistan.

Only that this time, he is going to be around and will look forward to adding his own repertoire of strokes to that memorable list, especially the one he manages to hit into the stands off a yorker.

If one wants to find out how Dhoni manages to pull off a six every time the delivery is pitched in the blockhole, just bowl one at him and stay back. Nine out of ten times, he’ll assure you, “the ball will either be over long-on or mid-wicket.’’

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Quite the way he strode into the international scene in 2004, blasting sixes, Dhoni’s fans have been equally amazed to know just how he finds a yorker so easy to be sent over to the stands. “More often than not, when I used to play in school, deliveries were over-pitched and the penchant to hit them hard and far got me used to this stroke,’’ he says.

Dhoni started his cricket facing the canvas ball. “That was the time when I was still in school and all I knew about batting was hitting sixes and, maybe, fours,’’ he says.

Looking back, this was exactly the way he made his own mark at the international level, smashing the bowlers at every given opportunity, the way he had learnt his batting.

Recently, though, there has been a sea change. While Dhoni says that he would always want to remain the kind of belligerent hitter that he’s been, “the requirements of the team have made him alter his own style.’’

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“Now I understand that it is important to realise what the team wants. I remember a match in Malaysia where, at a crucial juncture, I got out playing a bad stroke. I got my share of criticism for it and have learnt gradually. Now I like to stay as long as possible at the crease and bat according to the situation,’’ he says.

Cricket, they say, teaches a lot. To Dhoni, the game has taught the art of patience. In the match against Sri Lanka at Rajkot early this month, Dhoni’s 48 runs consisted of only one four and no sixes. “We could have won that match. But I had to stay there till the end,’’ he says.

Dhoni is fast maturing and he wants his batting to show that. “In the West Indies, the wickets are going to be slow and low. We’ll have to get used to the conditions. We’ll have to stay there in the middle and find our way through. It is not just about being aggressive but also about being patient,’’ he says.