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In Stats: Dhoni’s Slowest Half-Century and Struggle Against Spin

Sunday’s defeat was only the second time that India had failed to chase down a target of 190 or fewer in an ODI.

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West Indies caused a huge upset when they defeated India on Sunday. After opting to bat first in the fourth ODI of the 5-match series, West Indies scored a modest 189-9, and then bowled out their opponents for 178 to win by 11 runs.

If one were to analyse the performance of the two teams closely, the differences between them were relatively few. West Indies bowled 5 dot balls more than India had done earlier in the day, and the hosts conceded one four and one six fewer than the Indian bowlers had done.

Sunday’s defeat was only the second time that India had failed to chase down a target of 190 or fewer in an ODI.
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Given the manner of the defeat and how close the teams were, it must be a hard one for the members of the Indian dressing room to digest. The result must have come as a shock for Indian cricket fans too. Here’s why – the defeat on Sunday was only the second time that an Indian team had failed to chase down a target of 190 or fewer in a 50-over ODI.

Sunday’s defeat was only the second time that India had failed to chase down a target of 190 or fewer in an ODI.
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The pitch at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua, certainly wasn’t batsman-friendly, but that’s no excuse for this experienced Indian line-up to not be able to chase down a target of 190.

For an Indian side with a total of 1,002 ODI caps and nearly 28,000 ODI runs between the XI players, something was not right; how else can one explain that the batsmen played out a total of 187 dot balls in a 50-over contest?

One could always ask, what if only a handful of those dot deliveries had been scored off? A boundary here, a brace there, a handful of singles, and the match would have been won. But alas, that’s the benefit of hindsight. One can always look back and make observations, and that benefit is not available to the players during the course of a match.

Sunday’s defeat was only the second time that India had failed to chase down a target of 190 or fewer in an ODI.
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Barring Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, who batted at number 7 and 8 respectively, every other batsman batting in the top eight had more dot balls than scoring strokes.

In a casual conversation with me a few days ago, Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s most successful Test captain, told me, “Smart coaches are ones who always remain behind the scenes and allow the captain to run the game.”

“But on occasion, they should be alert to the captain and offer some guidance, and send him reminders/crisp messages about strategy changes if things aren’t working to plan.”

Yesterday was a day the Indian cricketers needed that helping hand from the support staff. Surely, someone in the dressing room was alert to the fact that West Indies were tightening the noose? The coaching staff must’ve surely noticed certain gaps in the field? Surely the Video Analyst must have observed a red alert on his system that the number of dot balls were too high?

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It will suit headline writers to pin the blame for the failed run-chase at MS Dhoni, who is rated among the best finishers the game has seen. But what about the other batsmen in the line-up? Kohli and Dinesh Karthik batted higher up and together had only 2 scoring strokes in the 31 balls they faced.

That conditions were not easy and stroke-making became difficult can be established from the fact that even Ajinkya Rahane struggled in the latter part of his innings.

Sunday’s defeat was only the second time that India had failed to chase down a target of 190 or fewer in an ODI.
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There’s no denying that Dhoni was part of a failed run-chase. On Sunday, he played out perhaps his most sorry ODI innings; 54 from 114 balls, strike-rate of 47.36, a solitary boundary, and the slowest half-century by an Indian cricketer in the last ten years! Let’s not embarrass him any more; he must be hurting enough already.

Sunday’s defeat was only the second time that India had failed to chase down a target of 190 or fewer in an ODI.
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It is becoming more and more evident now that Dhoni struggles against spin. This observation was made after his match-winning knock in the previous ODI. On Sunday, yet again he was tied down by Devendra Bishoo and Ashley Nurse. Dhoni faced 68 deliveries off the two spinners – 45 of which were dot deliveries – and could only score 28 runs off them (strike-rate of 41.18).

Sunday’s defeat was only the second time that India had failed to chase down a target of 190 or fewer in an ODI.
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For a player who has done so much damage at the highest level of the competition, it surely is a question of mind over matter. From the outside, one senses Dhoni needs a nudge to push himself that little bit harder, he needs a release against the spinners – and that can only happen from him believing and telling himself that he can still destroy spinners.

In the careers of sportsmen, there comes across an event, a performance, a day, which will trigger a thought process forcing them to question their abilities, forcing them to think if they still belong at that level.

Dhoni’s performance, considering the stage of his career, was certainly one such performance. If I were a Dhoni fan, I’d pray that this performance hasn’t kicked off that thought process. Dhoni is still a fantastic batsman and an outstanding wicketkeeper; he surely has plenty to offer to this Indian team in the next year or two.

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(This admission season, The Quint got experts from CollegeDekho.com on board to answer all your college-related queries. Send us your questions at eduqueries@thequint.com)

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