It was at the beautiful ACA-VDCA stadium that MS Dhoni gave a strong impression of his extraordinary talent coupled with brute force.
Visakhapatnam was the venue when Dhoni, walking in at No. 3 for India, slammed an explosive 148 off only 123 balls against Pakistan. That knock sealed his place in the side and gave India a lightning fast wicket-keeper capable of providing momentum at the top or even guide the team home lower down the order.
During his ODI career, Dhoni settled into a role of a finisher and adjusted his game accordingly after setting the stage on fire with his big attractive hits. As he hands over the duty of a finisher to India’s young and enterprising batsmen, Dhoni will be required to once again commission all his skills in his 199th match as the ODI captain. With series locked 2-2 after India’s 19-run loss in Ranchi, the fifth Paytm ODI against New Zealand will decide the winner.
New Zealand have never won an ODI series in India and having toppled the hosts in the second and fourth ODI, they will fancy their chances against a young middle-order learning to master the needs during a chase.
On the eve of the final ODI, all-rounder Keadar Jadhav admitted that opportunities have been missed. “Obviously, the opportunity has been missed, especially in the last game. But it’s still early stages for Manish (Pandey) and me. We need to grab whatever opportunity is thrown at us. We need to learn quickly from the opportunities we have missed. That’s what international cricket is all about – delivering when it matters most to the team.”
The big-hitter from Maharashtra has delivered with the ball and surprisingly has six wickets from four games for just 73 runs. “Captain Mahi bhai asked me to bowl. Obviously, Mahi wants a few bowlers from the top five or six batsmen to bowl at least 4-5 overs. If a bowler has a bad day, it helps the team.”
In the Ranchi ODI, Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out and Dhawal Kulkarni replaced him. Bumrah, who now effectively bowls in the middle overs with an older ball, was back in the nets and worked up good pace during Team India’s optional practice session. Leg spinner Amit Mishra has been the only bowler in the series to have captured 10 wickets and once again will be needed to give India the breakthroughs.
The spotlight will also be on India openers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. Both have looked good and got starts, but are yet to get big scores. The final ODI might just be the match as the two senior players in the side look to provide a solid start. For India’s most dependable batsman, Virat Kohli, the ground has always been highly productive.
He has two centuries here against Australia and the West Indies and on another occasion, he got out for 99 off 100 balls in 2013. While the numbers look staggering, Kedar said that there are other batsmen in the team who can shoulder the responsibility should Virat fail to score big. “Virat is a great player and it’s always nice if he scores. It makes life easy for the batsmen coming next to get whatever runs (possible). But it’s not like that (we're overdependent on him). We have too many quality batsmen in the team and we need to deliver whenever we get the opportunity.”
