A reason MS Dhoni kept mistiming the deliveries was that he was woefully imbalanced at the crease. Dhoni made 29 off 37 balls. (AP Photo) A reason MS Dhoni kept mistiming the deliveries was that he was woefully imbalanced at the crease. Dhoni made 29 off 37 balls. (AP Photo)

Part of MS Dhoni’s crawl in Vizag was down to the circumstances — India had lost two wickets in the space of five balls, they were at one juncture reeling at 90/5 and the lower-order was feeble (a reason he denied more than half a dozen singles). It necessitated caution. Part of it stemmed from some stingy bowling by the Australian seamers at the death, they cramped him for room and hardly fed him full tosses.

But chiefly, it was due to his inability to connect his shots, even those that were once his staple, like the heaves down the legside and the powerful slap-cuts.

A classic instance of his diminishing leg-side prowess came on the third ball of the 19th over. It was a rare loose ball by Pat Cummins, a length ball pitched on middle stump, begging to be dispatched over midwicket. It was Dhoni’s intention as well, he swung as hard as he could, but he was a touch late on it, inside-edging the ball to square-leg.

Like an ominous reminder of his waning faculties, the same routine repeated several times over in the match. He swung and slammed at similar deliveries five times thereafter, either missing or edging it each time.

A reason he kept mistiming the deliveries was that he was woefully imbalanced at the crease. In the past, he unfurled all those big strokes with a solid base. Here, his head was falling over, the back-foot was dragging sideways and consequently, the bat-swing wasn’t quite fluid. Still, his fabled hand-eye coordination would salvage him, but it has been on the decline as well.

Another pet shot on which MS Dhoni routinely failed to impart any velocity was the slap, to short or back-of-length balls outside the off-stump (Source: AP) Another pet shot on which MS Dhoni routinely failed to impart any velocity was the slap, to short or back-of-length balls outside the off-stump (Source: AP)

Another pet shot on which Dhoni routinely failed to impart any velocity was the slap, to short or back-of-length balls outside the off-stump. Back in the day, he would gather enough time (and thus power) to flay the ball wherever he chose to, in front or backward of point, or when it was really short, through the left of the sweeper. But not in Vizag, where he could only toe-edge a few singles to third man, a tell-tale sign of his decline.

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