Mukesh Ambani

 

There have always been questions about Dhoni's technique, and how ugly it looks. And the assessment of Dhoni's technique points out one of the major follies in our game - the temptation to judge by aesthetics rather than functionality. Technique is a product of how you get something done and not a step by step physical procedure as to how to do it. The method to achieve the fundamental virtues of the game rely on your abilities and aptitude to execute them in a particular way. Dhoni looks unorthodox at the crease, but he gets back and across. Instead of punching with his fore-arms, he bludgeons it with his wrists, with a low back-lift, ensuring that he plays it late. Most importantly, he has a still head while perceiving the line of the ball and at the point of contact. He also has an open stance allowing him to pull easily by getting to the back-foot early.

And just like that, all the virtues of batting are achieved by him, albeit with a slightly out-of-the-box method.

As teams all over the world tried to work a way around his fireworks, Dhoni established himself as a reliable batsman in Tests too, with a technique that worked against pace, seam, swing and spin. In his 5th Test, he coincidentally scored another 148 against Pakistan in an uncharacteristically stoic effort to save the match, thereby portraying his versatility as a batsman. After a string of wicketkeeper-batsmen being tried in the side, Dhoni had finally become a mainstay in the side - a powerful pinch-hitter towards the end of the innings capable of more than just cameos, and a more-than-reliable wicketkeeper in the side.

In a state where leather ball cricket was a luxury, Dhoni grew up playing tennis ball cricket tournaments. With heavy Kashmir willow bats, light and hollow tennis balls, and long boundaries, he developed a bottomhand-dominated technique to impart maximum power on the light tennis ball which undergoes energy-damping upon impact. However, Dhoni stood out when he, along with a friend, developed an elevated body-weight shot with an exaggerated follow-through that cleared boundaries with ease. On that count, cricketing folklore will remember MS Dhoni as the man who had the audacity to play the 'helicopter shot' against the leather ball.