RCB would have beaten CSK 999 times out of 1000 even if MS Dhoni batted ahead of Ashwin but what is he doing at No.9?

‘Bizarre’. That was the pithiest of the several passionate messages one received when R Ashwin walked out to bat on Friday night, at 80 for six as Chennai Super Kings chased 197 for victory against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Bizarre, not because of who walked into bat, but because who did not.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is 43 years of age, but he is much more than a middle-aged (?) cricketer. In Chennai, across India and, one suspects, in many parts of the world, he is an emotion, much like Sachin Tendulkar was. The passage of time has diminished some – only some – of his ball-striking abilities, but with 117 needed off 43 deliveries, who would you have in the middle?

Would you place your eggs in the Ashwin basket, a basket that boasts six Test hundreds but has a strike-rate of 120 across 326 representative Twenty20 ties? Or would that be in the Dhoni corner, which backs up the same number of Test tons with a vastly superior T20 strike rate of 135.74, in an astonishing 393 outings?

Chances are that no matter who came out to bat at No. 8, Royal Challengers Bengaluru would have trooped out winners. Nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a thousand, 117 from 43 deliveries with four wickets in hand will only throw up one winner – the team defending a target. There is no reason to believe that Dhoni ahead of Ashwin would have transformed CSK’s fortunes. Yet, one wondered. One wondered what might have been, what the margin would have been. And this was even before Dhoni slammed 30 not out off 16 deliveries, three fours and two sixes, while Ashwin’s whimper had lasted eight deliveries which produced 11 runs.

This isn’t an Ashwin vs Dhoni debate. It can’t be, can it, when there can only be one winner? This is about what Dhoni’s role is within the CSK set-up. About what he brings to the table, 43 or not. No. 9? Mahendra Singh Dhoni? Tell us another.

What is MS Dhoni doing at No.9?

This is the man to whom nothing was impossible at his prime. He is well past his prime, no disputing that, but even Dhoni well past his prime is a far better bet than Ashwin at his peak in 20-over cricket. Maybe even better than Ravindra Jadeja, at No. 7, or Sam Curran, at No. 5, and definitely far, far better than Deepak Hooda, the No. 4, can ever aspire to be. So, what is Dhoni doing at No. 9?

In one of his rare interviews, Dhoni told the host broadcaster in the pre-season that he was ‘useless’ if he wasn’t keeping wickets. Never has a truer word been said. Case in point? His faster-than-lightning stumping of Suryakumar Yadav in CSK’s commanding victory over Mumbai Indians in their first match of the competition. But No. 9? Come onnnnnn MS, surely not?

As if to buttress that line of thought, Dhoni slammed two sixes and a four off the final over of a futile run-chase, off the bowling of Krunal Pandya, classed a left-arm spinner but who touches 100 kmph with ridiculous ease. The two sixes were monstrous; for a brief while, it made the CSK faithfuls forget that their favourite sons had surrendered a home tie to their southern neighbours for the first time in 17 years. It also made them wonder why Dhoni was batting so low down the order when he still has so much to offer to the team, not just behind the stumps but also in front of it.

Dhoni’s transformation from an awkward, local-lingo-challenged ‘outsider’ to Chennai’s most recognisable face – with due respect to Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan, among others – is a fairytale of no parallel. His rustic charm and a supreme lack of ego appealed immensely to a proud populace that has historically been welcoming of heroes from outside, albeit with apprehension and reservations. It helped too that, with his flowing locks, his electric work behind the sticks and his incomparable match-winning efforts in front of them, Dhoni touched a chord in the fiercely unyielding Chennaiites. Five titles, among them a stirring triumph in 2018 in their first campaign since a two-year ban, cemented Dhoni’s standing as an iconoclast. In the eyes of the CSK fans, there is nothing about Dhoni that is remotely close to questionable. But even their faith is now vacillating after seeing Dhoni at No. 9. No. 7 at No. 9? No sir, no way.? No sir, no way.

Dhoni’s six-hitting skills are very much intact, as Pandya will testify. He might be 43 but he doesn’t look it and certainly doesn’t play like it. As CSK aspire for an unprecedented sixth title, they will need more from Thala. But not anymore than what he is capable of. That’s why the ‘bizarre’ theme.