Chennai: Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will face one of the trickiest tests of his international career as he frets on a perfect batting combination as India take on South Africa in their must-win fourth One Day International (ODI) match here on Thursday.
Losing 2-1 and with a host of batsmen not showing enough flexibility at different positions in the order, it has become a tough task for skipper Dhoni, who is facing the danger of losing a second straight home ODI series after the 2-1 loss to Bangladesh earlier this year.
If spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s side strain is one of the many on-field worries for Dhoni, the problems have been compounded by off-field woes as leg-spinner Amit Mishra is facing assault charges, with a woman filing a case against the leg-spinner at the Bengaluru police station. It is not clear whether Mishra will be playing this match or not.
Run chases have been a problem of late for the Indian team, as the skipper himself has admitted the side is yet to figure out who are the ideal players at numbers 5, 6 and 7. These are the three slots where batsmen who are capable of big hits and can be finishers in close run chases are preferred.
However, with an ageing Dhoni now batting up the order, Ajinkya Rahane is yet to find his mojo at 5 or 6. Dhoni’s deputy Virat Kohli finally got some ODI runs (77) in the last game, albeit in a losing cause.
But Kohli scored the moment he was back at his preferred No. 3 slot, while Rahane, the moment he was demoted, couldn’t get going after two half-centuries in the first two games.
Suresh Raina is another player who is not in good form. Only three runs from three matches is not a fair reflection of one of India’s better limited overs players, but Raina is going through a lean patch that has increased the pressure on the other batsmen.
While Rohit Sharma is in the form of his life in the shorter versions, the same can’t be said of his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan, who has managed only 59 runs in three matches.
Dhawan has scored three centuries in his last three Test matches, but that form has not rubbed off on him when in coloured clothes.
Dhoni has done a lot of shuffling with the batting order in the series so far and it will be interesting to see what will be the combinations he comes up with for Thursday’s game.
