Indian captain MS Dhoni is all set to stake a claim for another world T2o title, this time at home, due to which he rose in international cricket nine years ago in Johannesburg. It will not be an exaggeration to say that Dhoni is a child of T20 cricket. With all his reputation and controversy in ODI and Test cricket, it has to be said that Dhoni is the boss of limited over cricket. His leadership skills never get old in ODIs and T20.

Dhoni recently said that Indians are the strong contenders for the World T20 2016.

He has won the inaugural World T20 in South Africa which introduced captain Dhoni to the world. But, Dhoni and his men failed to reach the semifinal of the next three editions and lost in the final of the 2014 edition played in Bangladesh.

This time, with India whitewashing Australia 3-0 Down Under and defeating Sri Lanka at home, they look got a good to mount a challenge for the title. With Asia Cup knocking at the door, Dhoni will get another competitive tournament where Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh will vie for the maiden T20 laurel.

Dhoni in recent years also drew flak for his failure in ODI format, not to mention the flak he received after IPL team Chennai Super Kings was banned from IPL. So, this tournament at home will provide him a chance to regain the glory.

Dhoni got a team where every department is ticking the right button and his experiments, if they can be called as such, are also working well. In the series against Sri Lanka, Ajinkya Rahane played all three matches as Virat was given rest. So, in the Asia Cup dashing Indian top order batsman will be back in the team that will make Dhoni’s job tough as he has to drop one player from the playing XI.

Dhoni knows too well that Asia Cup will be his last platform to experiment with the team combination. Though he already stated that the current Indian playing XI is perfect for the World T20 and Asia Cup. In the editions before the last T20 World Cup, India did not do much and this time, at home the expectations will be high, so he has to be cautious of whatever decisions he makes for the team.

He opened up about his approach to the shortest format of the game.

“It is one format where the difference between the opposition is not very big… It is not one team that has consistently won more World Cups than the others,” he said.

He also pointed out that different teams- India, Pakistan, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka- have won the previous five editions, “You have to make sure the players are at their peak, everyone is available. Quite a few tournaments we have done well, we have also reached the final.”

The focus, however, will be on Ajnikya Rahane. Dhoni admitted that Rahane will have to watch the entire tournament from the dugout as in the current team combination Rahane has no place. “He has not been part of the first eleven. That is also because of the form of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. It makes life a bit difficult for the skipper because Rahane if you take the performance of Indian players in IPL in the last two years, you can place him at one or two.”

Talking about the India batting strength, he said that all-rounder who bats at No 7 or 8 could make the difference in the nerve-wracking situations. India have quite a few hard-hitting allrounder in their rank who are capable for the job. Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya and uncapped Pawan Negi and Yuvraj Singh are the all-rounders in the Indian squad.

“All-rounders give us the option of playing an extra batsman or bowler. We have got at least three, and cover for everyone. In modern cricket, it’s important the lower order contributes.”

However, success in this Asia Cup T20 in Bangladesh and World T20 at home tell much about Dhoni’s future in the India team as a captain and a player.

WT20 2016: MS Dhoni’s reputation and glory are at stake?

Sudipta Biswas

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