“You cannot calculate his value,” Sunil Gavaskar pleads MS Dhoni critics to be patient

Sunil Gavaskar pleads MS Dhoni critics to be patient: The legendary batsman wants the critics to leave MS Dhoni alone.

Having scored two half-centuries in as many matches, former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni has shown signs of form after a lean 2018 with the bat. Agreed that the first half-century took to many balls but it is relieving to see Dhoni spend time in the middle after his worst year with the bat.

Watching Dhoni successfully finish the innings in a tense chase yesterday must have given a significant amount of confidence to the Indian team management. Apart from scoring vital runs in the business end of the match, Dhoni also affected a sharp stumping dismissal which adds to his value as a cricketer in the Indian team.

Sunil Gavaskar, former Indian captain and the first batsman ever to cross the 10,000-run mark in international cricket, advocated for Dhoni’s place in the ODI squad. The 69-year old talked about Dhoni’s overall value in the team and how he contributes other than just his bat.

“He keeps telling the bowlers to bowl a particular delivery, what a batsman is planning to do. He has a sense of what a batsman is thinking. Obviously, nobody can read precisely what is going on in a batsman mind…the best way to help bowlers, the best way to help field placements for a captain or wicketkeeper is to put himself in that particular batsman’s place or mind. What the batsman is looking to do now…is he looking to get out of jail kind of shot? Is he looking to push the ball around for a single?

“These are the kind of things where Dhoni helps the bowlers and of course with the field placing because Virat is so important in the deep in the final overs when he saves those two runs diving around, takes magnificent catches in the deep.

“So, it’s not possible for Virat to maybe have a conversation with the bowlers or maybe to make adjustments to the square fielders. That is where Virat has complete faith and trust in Dhoni to make those little bit of adjustments for him,” Gavaskar told India Today.

‘Praying’ to Dhoni’s critics, Gavaskar urged them to leave Dhoni alone and bear with his little inconsistency. “That value you cannot calculate at all. My prayer is to please leave the gentleman alone and he will continue to do well. He is also not getting younger.

“So, the consistency you might have at a younger age will obviously not be there and you have to bear with that. Bear with that little inconsistency. But he’s still tremendous value to the team,” Gavaskar added.