There's not much to worry about India's batting strength, but the fact is, skipper MS Dhoni hasn't scored heavily going into the World Cup
There's not much to worry about India's batting strength, but the fact is, skipper MS Dhoni hasn't scored heavily going into the World Cup
Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be happy with the way Indian team has been performing, but the skipper's own form may be worrying him.
Dhoni is not in the best of form going into the World Cup. He managed to score only 75 runs in the recently concluded five-match ODI series against South Africa. If the start of this year was bad, 2010 was worse as far as his batting was concerned. He scored 600 runs from 18 ODIs as compared to 1097 and 1198 runs in 29 ODIs in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
It's been over a year since he scored an ODI century. However, it is still acceptable considering that he comes to bat No 5 and 6. But it is almost six months since he hit a half-century. It came against Sri Lanka in Dambulla last August.
Is the pressure of captaincy slowly taking a toll on his individual performance? In the 2009-10 season, Dhoni managed to score only 754 runs in 20 matches in which he Did Not Bat four times as compared to 592 runs in 15 matches during the 2008-09 season. In his first season as captain in 2007-08, he scored 708 runs in 22 matches.u00a0
Though former captain Ajit Wadekar said his form is a "concern", it is not something that the Indian think-tank needs to sweat over. "The kind of batting line-up we have got, I don't think we should worry too much about Dhoni's form. He is a player, who can come back to form whenever required.
"But if he is in good form, it will obviously help a great deal. It is important for every player to be at their best if we have to win the World Cup," he said.
However, Dhoni will play a crucial role in finishing games if the Indian team has to avoid any last-minute hiccups as witnessed during the last few ODIs against South Africa, which went down the wire.
