What was Dhoni doing?

[flamy]

^ I'm sure you must have let out some choice expletives specially prepared for Dhoni in those final overs :--D

[Sachinism]

I was cheering him on, I knew Sachin would get strike at some point in those overs. Even when Dhoni hit a six off the 1st ball of the last over, I still wasn't worried

[thevortex]

Good on you flamy for bringing this up! Here are my thoughts on this subject: Folks - before I forget to mention this, I think M S Dhoni must be lauded with special focus for his exemplary batting as well as outstanding keeping work. Sachin did slow down once he had gotten to the mid 180s. However time did not stop and India were nearing their full quota of 50 overs. Dhoni took it upon himself to produce all the big shots and some of them were well - they came out of the blue. Such is the speed of his bat swing. That he does not have a backlift to speak of only makes the sight even more brutal and demoralizing for the bowlers. I heard him say in the post match press conferences that his game had changed and that he only played this aggressively because of the situation. My man, with this sort of game, you should not be trying to do too much else. Simply because there is nobody else who does this particular role better than you. He is also taking very intelligent steps in trying to mould Pathan as the hitter. I am just not sure that that experiment will succeed. About his keeping - standing up to the wicket for Praveen Kumar many a time he took the bails off in a flash. Not that he poduced a dismissal but it showed how quick he was with his collections and how balanced he was after collecting the ball. He is one man who has had colossal improvement as far as keeping is concerned. By the way, another neat innings by Karthik. India in a nice tough position there - pardon the pun - as far as team selection is concerned.

[achilles]

Dhoni was unthinkably brilliant. Even though the whole excitement and focus was about Sachin getting to 200, Dhoni didn't let it bother him. Rather, he used the most mature strategy. He went after the bowlers, took away their attention from Sachin, gave Sachin a breathing space, and perfectly set the stage for him to get to 200 without hiccups. In the process, also knowing Sachin won't be able to get wild, Dhoni took the burden on his shoulders to smash the bowling and get the score past 400. I thought that Dhoni bit was quite special. One doesn't expect such things from an Indian captain after Gavaskar - but one can expect it from Dhoni. :isalute:

Vav. Flamy is bang on target :clap:

[riya]

For the first time in history a captain was cursed thrashed for hitting 6s:haha:

[veer]

dhoni is about more buzz with less fuzzz... does his job silently.. WC 2011 is his ultimate test.. and i have a lot of faith in him... i hope other guys help him by staying injury free..