India vs Sri Lanka, Jaipur, October 31, 2005

The Dhoni Blitzkrieg

Mahendra Singh Dhoni launched an incredible assault on the Sri Lankan bowling which they will never forget for the rest of their lives. He pulverized them with ten sixes, all of them sailing well over the boundary. Astoundingly enough he didn’t throw his wicket away even when he was suffering from cramps but was unbeaten at the end and finished the match by depositing the ball into the midwicket stand as a final flourish. Anyone who had seen his breakout innings against Pakistan would have known that this lad has a special talent for striking the ball, but this display was something else. The ball was struck in a projectile arc into the air like it was an artillery shell being fired. There was never any doubt that it would clear the boundary. The Sri Lankan’s subjected to such continual exposure to the shell-fire were in danger of developing symptoms of shell-shock like giddiness, headache and even mental breakdowns. 183 runs of 145 balls with 10 sixes and 15 fours!!

Earlier Sri Lanka recovered from an average start to post a huge score of 298, thanks to a wonderful 151 run partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. For the third time in the series Sanath Jayasuirya failed to get away and dragged Ajit Agarkar onto his stumps. It was a well deserved wicket for Agarkar who had come up with a tight opening spell. It was Mahela who stepped up the scoring rate with Sangakkara after Marvan Atapattu had slowed it to a crawl in an attempt to find some form. JP Yadav picked up Atapattu's wicket as Dhoni held an excellent catch standing up to the stumps. Mahela settled in quickly and played with refreshing freedom. He was watchful against a miserly Harbhajan Singh but tore into Murali Karthik, repeatedly stepping out and hitting him inside out over cover. The Lankan plan was for one of the top three to play a big innings and Sangakkara was the one who put up his hand. He was wristy and light on his feet against Karthik. He initially played second fiddle to Mahela and his 50 came up in 79 balls with only 5 fours but he increased the tempo quickly with his second fifty coming up in only 44 balls. It was Sangakkara who took the initiative after Mahela’s dismissal - he slashed a short ball from Agarkar down to thirdman, where Sehwag took his second sharp catch in as many matches. India fought back with the quick wicket of Dilshan, but wilted in the last 10 overs as Farveez Maharoof was sent up the order and smashed all bowlers for a rapid fire 33 in only 18 balls. One of his shots was a stunning tennis forehand of an Agarkar short ball outside off stump that flew flat over the bowlers head to the sightscreen. Pathan just couldn’t get his full length in the end overs, and Maharoof repeatedly smashed his good length balls to the midwicket boundary. Sangakkara finished the 50^th over with a boundary and was unbeaten on 138 of 147 balls. It was a remarkable performance by the Lankan wicket keeper showing just how wrong the World XI selectors were in leaving him out of the Super Test. He is definitely the number 2 wicket keeper batsman in the world, and is arguably a better keeper than Adam Gilchrist.

On most occasions Sangakkara’s effort would have been a match winning one, but today was Dhoni’s day. The Lankans would have been very confident of a win after Tendulkar chased a wide one from Vaas in the very first over, only for Sangakkara to come up with a brilliant diving catch. Dhoni was sent in at number three, and he started the proceedings with a six over cover off a slightly wide delivery from Vaas. It was an astonishing shot, but he repeated it again in Vaas' next over to prove that it was no fluke. When he launched into the replacement bowler, Maharoof, for another six, straight back over his head, one began to sense that something special was happening. He had hit 3 sixes in his first 15 balls. He disturbed his copy book with a pulled four of Fernando, before he launched him for another six. Four sixes and one four and he was only on 32! Sehwag acknowledged the Dhoni impact and began to take singles to give Dhoni the strike. Attapatu was in a quandary as to when to use the second and third power play. He didn’t use it after the first 10 overs, as he brought Murali and Chandana in to try and get a break through. It wasn’t working as Dhoni started collecting fours and singles. Finally Murali struck in the 15^th over, removing Sehwag when his sweep missed the well flighted doosra and he was declared leg before.

Dravid was in next and scored at a brisk rate as Attapatu employed the 2^nd power play from the 17-21^st over. Dravid was telling Dhoni to use the power plays well, but he needn’t have because Dhoni with a powerful sweep of Chandana, was still clearing the boundary. Dhoni and Dravid added 86 runs in 12 overs in which Dravid's contribution was only 28. Dhoni reached his 100 off 85 balls and celebrated by cocking his bat like a rifle and firing it into the Indian dressing room. The assault continued and the third power play was delayed until Dravid was dismissed off a return catch as he tried to work Murali’s doosra to the onside. Yuvraj came in to see Dhoni enjoying the field restriction for another 5 overs, but quickly applied himself to the task. He made a brisk 18 before he was bowled as he lazily played back to an off break from Dilshan without moving his front foot.

Venugopal Rao finally got his first bat in the series and came out to face the last over off Murali. He managed to read and safely negotiate a couple of doosras. By this time Sehwag was running for Dhoni as he had cramped up a quite a bit and his movements were restricted. Dhoni reined himself in with a few singles as he took a breather. Rao was tied down by some tight bowling from Maharoof before he danced down the track and smote Dilshan for a six. He then square drove Maharoof for a four but the bowler came back well by going past his outside edge a couple of times.Atapattu brought Chandana back into the attack to further ruin his bowling figures, and Dhoni obliged by deciding to end the match in a hurry with sixes number 8 and 9 in that over. Venugopal Rao got strike in the next over with only 2 runs required for the win, and Sehwag had a quiet word with Rao probably telling him to ease up so that Dhoni can finish off the match. Rao let a few balls from Maharoof sail past outside off stump and Dhoni promptly finished the match in the next over with his 10th six of the match off a hapless Tilekaratne Dilshan.

The entire Indian team came out to congratulate Dhoni for his stupendous innings. The Rajastan Cricket Association was so enamored by Dhoni’s knock that they decided to give him a cheque for Rs. 10 lakhs in addition to the man of the match award. As Dravid said in his post match comments, it was a privilege to see Dhoni bat.

3-0 in a 7 match series, the vice is tightening around Sri Lanka.