From a marauder to a finisher, Mahendra Singh
Dhoni's journey as a batsman makes for an interesting study. For someone who
burst onto the scene in 2005 with a swashbuckling 148 against Pakistan in
Visakhapatnam, the Dhoni of present believes in playing percentage cricket and
staying at the crease till the end.
His childhood coach Chanchal Bhattacharya credits
batting legend Sachin Tendulkar for the change in mindset. "As a
youngster, if Dhoni scored 10 runs, it would contain at least one big hit. But
that is the Dhoni of old. Now he is a man who likes to take calculative risk.
Yes, he will still hit the bad ball and take risks, but he has also understood
the importance of defending and taking singles. And the man behind this is none
other than Tendulkar. He taught Dhoni the importance of planning the innings to
put pressure on opposition teams," he told Mail Today.
Interestingly, the general notion is that Dhoni and
former India captain Sourav Ganguly don't belong to the same page. But
Bhattacharya squashes that rumour as well.
"Dhoni realises the role Ganguly played in
making him the name he is today. Had Ganguly not provided him the opportunity
to bat at No. 3 against Pakistan that day, who knows if we would ever have a
Dhoni? These are all rumours. He has utmost respect for Dada," he said.
