At 36, MSD’s future seems uncertain

New Delhi : On his 36th birthday, Mahendra Singh Dhoni finds himself standing at a crossroads of an illustrious career — just four matches short of a mammoth 300 ODI games. One of the best finishers of the game, Dhoni played perhaps the most horrendous knock of his 13-year-ODI career — 54 off 114 balls — in an unsuccessful 190-run chase against West Indies. Dhoni’s knock at North Sound obviously begs a few questions. Can he win matches for India at the 2019 World Cup when he will be 38? Only Dhoni knows.
Are his finishing powers on the wane? They certainly seem to be going by his recent struggles. Is he still the best wicketkeeper and one of the fittest in the team? An emphatic yes. It’s a tricky situation for one of India’s limited-overs legends. He will win matches here and there, will be brilliant behind the stumps with flash reflexes but will that be enough to convince Virat Kohli to give him another 45 matches before the team again boards the flight to the UK for the 2019 World Cup? What works in favour of Dhoni is India’s phenomenally strong batting line-up.
With Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan at the top with back-ups like KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane at the top of the order, Dhoni actually will not be required on most of the days.And then to provide swagger towards the end, Hardik Pandya has arrived with the ability to hit sixes at will. Therefore, perhaps Dhoni will be required occasionally to guide the team. And therein lies the problem. Slots No. 5 or 6 are very important, where he won’t always have the time to settle down.
Ajay Jadeja, during one of his commentary stints, said, “It’s not the sixes that is the problem but not getting those singles regularly that’s putting the pressure on him.”