“Apart from being an automatic choice in the team, you look at the player’s cricketing acumen, body language, ability to lead from the front and man management skills. We saw Dhoni’s approach to the game, body language, how he spoke to others; we got positive feedback” – Dilip Vengsarkar, chief Indian selector during the T20 world cup 2007.
It was 2007 when there emerged a strategic genius in the realm of cricket, a captain who navigated the game with the finesse of a chess grandmaster. M.S. Dhoni, often hailed as the “Captain Cool” of Indian cricket, bore an uncanny resemblance to the ancient Indian philosopher Chanakya, known for his unparalleled strategic acumen in the art of war. Much like Chanakya, he had a knack for identifying and grooming young talents, building a team that would evolve into a force to be reckoned with.
Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Aswin, Mohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and so many more young talents which were recognized and nourished by MS, turned into successful careers.
Despite the power hitter that he is, with his strong core and powerful wrists, the focus of this blog is the principles of Acharya Chanakya, from the “Neeti Shastra”, and instances where MS Dhoni applied those principles on the cricket battlefield to emerge victorious.
1. Calm:
Principle:
“Not in panic or desperation, but one must face the natural calamities with a calm head. The adverse acts of providence or the natural calamities – like earthquakes, floods, drought, Tsunami etc. – invariably create panic and desperation in the mind of the human sufferer which further aggravate the bad situation. One should be calm while dealing with such a situation.”
How many times have we seen Dhoni apply this? Always
“Natural calamities” represent pressure situations in cricket where the stakes are too high. Where the toughest of them all would feel the heat, but not Dhoni!
Time and again, Dhoni has snatched victories from the mouth of the opposition. Known as the “best finisher” of his era, he took so many chases right down to the wire to win from situations where victory seemed to be far fetched.
At the top of the list comes the Celkon Mobile Cup Final, 2013 Vs Sri Lanka.15 were required off the last 6 balls with just 1 wicket in hand.
Dhoni asked for a new bat as the ball was given to Shaminda Eranga. The first one was wide outside off and Dhoni swung hard, but was nowhere near the ball.
Neither did he have the luxury to rotate the strike, nor did he have the time to look for the bad deliveries. One wrong shot and the match would be all over.
But a stable headed Dhoni dismissed the next 3 balls for 6,4 and 6 to seal the game for India with 2 balls to spare.
There are so many more occasions when Dhoni kept calm, defied the odds to come up on the top. Among the top 5 are
- Vs KXIP, IPL 2016: Dhoni, in an RPSG journey, chased down 24 off the last over, out of which 12 came off the last 2 balls. He unleashed the helicopter shot to hit the finishing six and even the opponent couldn’t help but applaud this masterclass.
- Vs Australia, Commonwealth Bank Series, 2012: 13 required off the last over on the back of a wicket and 2 back to back dot balls in the penultimate over. It took 2 balls for Ashwin to give the strike to MS, and 2 more for Dhoni to finish off the match. What came in those 2 balls was a no ball from Australia and a massive 112m six from the power hitter.
- Vs MI, IPL 2022: CSK needed 17 off 6, which came down to 16 off 4 until Dhoni got on strike. What followed was 6, 4, 2, 4 to emerge victorious on the very last ball.
- Vs KXIP, IPL 2010: Must win match to qualify for the semi’s and CSK needed 16 off the last 6. Dhoni smashed Pathan for one 4 and two sixes, both of which went into orbit, to finish the game with 2 balls to spare.
All these successful chases wouldn’t have been possible had he panicked one bit. Dhoni not only manages to keep his head stable but also holds his composure. His calm and confident body language plays on the minds of the opposition.
2. Analyze:
Principle:
“Direct opposition of the powerful enemy will cause sure defeat. In that case, it is always prudent to avoid direct confrontation. Keep him confused of your intention. It is only against an enemy of the matching power that one has to be aggressive or submissive according to the demand of the situation”
Chanakya meant this in the true sense, but this principle, in cricket, can also be taken in a metaphorical sense. Your weak zones as a batsman are your powerful enemies, which you should avoid direct confrontation with, until you overcome them.
In test cricket, the cover drive is something a batsman can’t do without. But barely have we seen Dhoni play the cover drive throughout his career, isn’t it? Due to his not-long-enough front-foot stride, the weight of his body gets transferred on to the front foot a bit too early.
Only the leg that’s not carrying the weight of the body can move backwards or forward. The front foot, if it is already loaded, cannot move far. Being a strong bottom hand player, his bottom hand takes over the shot even before impact when the delivery is pitched full outside off.
Bottom hand domination coupled with lack of feet movement is the perfect fuel for disaster against fast bowlers even on a slightly moving pitch.
Dhoni identified this limitation and coined a unique way to tackle this. He would walk across and down the pitch to get close to the ball even in test matches.
Moving so much took him outside off and then even if he got beaten by pace of a sharp in-dipper, he would rule out the possibility of an LBW.
Moreover, although his short front foot stride made him susceptible to the fuller delivery, it allowed him to be a strong back foot player; one of the key reasons for his success in India’s tour of England, 2014.
The bowlers had to push back their lengths and and go for the bouncers, thus playing to his strengths.
3. Courage
Principle:
“Courageous persons overpower even their enemies. Even if the courageous persons face powerful enemies, they overpower them merely by their dominant courage.”
It was the final of the inaugural T20 World cup and Pakistan needed 13 runs of the last 6 balls. Dhoni had 2 bowlers left.
- Harbhajan Singh, who had taken 7 wickets in 7 matches at an average of 26. He had bowled a last over previously in match number 24 in this world cup against South Africa and had given away just 7 runs in that over, taking a wicket.
- Joginder Sharma, who had averaged 30+ with 3 wickets in 4 matches. He had bowled the last over in the semi final against Australia, where they needed 22 runs of the last 6 balls courtesy of the penultimate over bowled by Harbhajan where Harbhajan gave away just 5 runs.
Both hunch and analytics of any cricket captain in the world would choose Harbhajan. But Dhoni chose courage. Not only did he give the ball to Joginder Sharma but also went upto him and said “If we loose, it will be my responsibility”
The rest is history. “In the air Shreesanth takes it, India win!!”
4. Attack:
Principle:
“Attack on the weakness of your enemy. That is, your strategy should be to first find your enemy’s weaknesses and attack on them.”
The prime example of Dhoni applying this principle is placing a fielder straight down the ground for Kiron Pollard.
Pollard had a knack of hitting spinners straight down the ground for flat sixes. Dhoni used this behaviour of Pollard to his advantage to dismiss Pollard thrice in his IPL career (2010, 2017 and 2022), 2 of which came in IPL finals.
Even captains from other teams, such as Manish Pandey from SRH and Temba Bavuma from South Africa executed this tactic successfully.
Introducing Ashwin in the very first over against Chis Gayle to get him out in the IPL 2011 final, coming up to the stumps on Irfan Pathan’s bowling to devoid Luke Write of stepping out of the crease in the T20 World Cup 2012, walking up to the stumps to a fast bowling Deepak Chahar to trap Rohit Sharma in IPL 2023 are all examples of Dhoni playing on the weaknesses of oppositions.
5. Thoughtful:
Principle:
“Although man reaps as he sows and his wisdom is also controlled by his action, yet the prudent and wisemen act very thoughtfully, fully weighing the good and bad consequences. It means that though the resultant of the deeds committed in previous life decide the good and bad consequence in this life, still one must act after a thoughtful deliberation.”
One such instance, which is the pinnacle of “thoughtful deliberation” is India Vs Bangladesh, ICC World Cup 2016.
India had already lost a game against New Zealand in the super 10s and loosing this one would most probably mean an end to India’s world cup journey. 11 runs where required off the final over, 9 of which came in the first 3 balls itself.
With just 2 required off the last 3 balls and 4 wickets in hand, the match was nothing but lost for India, to an extent that Bangladesh had already started celebrating.
But fate had other plans. With some poor shot selection by the batsmen and good fielding by India, 2 wickets came off the next 2 balls and this game too came down to the last ball, with 2 runs required off it.
Dhoni removed one of his gloves, went up to Pandya and asked him to bowl outside off, such that the batsman would miss.
And that is exactly what happened. Pandya bowled one short outside off and the batsman missed. Dhoni collected the ball, after which he had 2 choices; to aim at the stumps and throw the ball or to himself run at the stumps.
In case Dhoni threw the ball and it hit the stumps, it was a sure shot win which came along with the risk that if he missed, the batsman could go for another run.
But the definition of sure shot win for Dhoni is when things are under his own control. Throwing the ball, however good you are, has a 50% chance of missing. It was evident from the fact that Dhoni had removed his right glove that if the batman misses, he’ll run to the stumps.
It all came down to that one last sprint. Mustafizur, who had already left the crease before Pandya bowled the delivery and had a bat to slide in was competing with MS Dhoni, with the ball in his right hand and lighting fast legs.
Dhoni broke the stumps well before Mustafizur could reach the crease and India was home. Reason: Presence of mind and thoughtfulness!
Conclusion:
If the game cricket were a grand chessboard, Dhoni would snatch a victory with eight pawns left!
Bringing in Sehwag and Uthappa to win the 2007 T20 WC bowl out against Pakistan, handing the 14th over to Virat Kohli in the T20 WC 2016 semi final to dismiss a well set Charles, asking Ishant Sharma to change his bowling end in the 18th over to dismiss both the well set batsmen, Morgan and Bopara, thus winning the champions trophy 2013 are all tactical masterstrokes at the biggest stage my M.S. Dhoni.
Truely, the parallels between Chanakya’s teachings and Dhoni’s on-field decisions are striking. By combining skill, composure, adaptability, and calculated risk-taking, Dhoni has not only achieved unmatched success as a captain but has also left a lasting legacy as a strategic mastermind in the world of cricket.