One of MS Dhoni’s attributes when he captained India was when he saw potential in a player, he was willing to give him as long a rope as possible. For him what the critics wrote did not matter if the player, he backed to do well in the long term, went through periods of inconsistency.
During the early and the later phases of his reign, there were two players that he seemed to have a lot of time for: Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya. It was almost like Dhoni liked the energy the former brought to the table and so, wanted him to feature in the side and the latter’s swagger intrigued him enough to find a regular spot for him in the team.
It is not known whether Dhoni saw the dead rubber third ODI in Canberra on Wednesday, but if he did, then the performance of these two players would have pleased him the most for one particular reason: the game awareness shown by both these players.
When the team was under the pump, at his best, it is this aspect that made Dhoni special: knowing when to attack, when to play out time and eventually put India in the ascendancy.
With India at 152/5 after 32 overs, Jadeja met Pandya at the wicket, with the side needing to reach a competitive total. They had a few things going for them: the time, a pitch with no real demons and an opposition without two front line bowlers. However, their job was to yet to start.
The first five overs that the duo batter together, the scorecard moved by a mere 21 runs with a solitary boundary in the 35th over. At the stage, with no specialist batsman to follow, India would have taken that.
The next block of five overs fetched the Men in Blue 31 runs and those runs, mainly scored by Pandya, brought to the fore an important feature to his batting: After hitting a boundary of the second ball of the 40th over, the Baroda all-rounder immediately captured a brace from the next ball, which meant the pressure on the bowling did not relent. He followed suit in the 42nd over, when after hitting a four, he took a single to keep the score ticking along.
While India’s scoring rate had not accelerated enormously, the two had ensured they had formed a solid base for themselves to launch in the last eight overs. 52 runs had come in the ten overs since Virat Kohli’s wicket and India were now staring at something they could compete with.
Sensing the need to break this growing stand, Aaron Finch brought back Josh Hazlewood and Pandya and Jadeja did exactly what two players who have grown from being rebellious adolescents into grown men would: played his over out without taking any risks. His over and the next bowled by Moises Henriques yielded 12 runs.
From 152/5 in 32 overs, this pair had now taken the team’s score to 216/5 in 44 overs. 64 risk-free, calculated runs scored in 12 overs, with Pandya doing the bulk of the damage.
Jadeja, at the other end, had given able support to him and the duo had the launch pad to go for the jugular. Pandya realised this and began to farm less of the strike.
With five overs left, India’s scoreboard read 226/5. The run-rate had just crossed 5, but two overs from Hazlewood remained. At the other end, though, it seemed like there was fodder ready to be served for the cattle. And how well India gulped it in.
Jadeja’s ability to go big was never in question, it was always about how clever he was in his shot selection. The 48th over was an evidence of how far his game and in particular, his batting had evolved.
Knowing prematurely that Abbott would try the wide yorker, the southpaw moved across his stumps and hoicked it over square leg. Off the next ball, Abbott went short and Jadeja slammed it over wide mid-wicket.
The third ball, short again, was dealt differently. Jadeja stood tall and found the gap between the two men stationed close to one another at short third man. This was a man who had understood the match situation, the field placements to the T. He was showing he had grown up.
Abbott’s over eventually yielded 19 runs. India had conjured up 53 runs in three overs and the score had reached 279 in 48 overs.
With more productive tallies off the last two overs, the Men in Blue managed to finish at 302/5 in their 50 overs. Pandya finished on a career-best 92 not out while Jadeja, after a slow start, had made a 50-ball 66.
The stand had Dhoni’s imprint all over it and it showed what proper guidance can blossom into. Pandya and Jadeja showed they no longer were merely irresponsible kids wanting a piece of action, they wanted main scenes in the movie and they wanted to play out their role, with clarity, maturity and crucially match awareness.
Sitting somewhere, if Dhoni had watched these turks play the way they did, he would have smiled. The transition is now complete.
