Dhoni Does It All

Forget Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the star of Indian cricket.

Captain, wicket-keeper, spiritual leader of an Indian team which now regularly competes with the world’s best sides, and now master blaster batsman.

His stunning 124 off just 107 balls last night was one of the best one-day innings you’ll ever see.
He toyed with the Australians early, knocking singles around and rotating the strike first with Gautam Gambhir and later with Suresh Raina.
But when the 35th over came and went, Dhoni went into a different gear.
He slogged all bowlers to all parts – he was particularly brutal on Shane Watson – and brought up his ton with a majestic straight six.

It’s not the first time he has taken to a very decent bowling attack. He is the real star of this Indian side now. The crowd in Nagpur – who admittedly are incessantly noisy at the best of times – went absolutely mad every time Dhoni added to his score.
And what’s even better is he’s got a bit of mongrel about him. He prowls around the centre wicket area like a cage fighter. Twice he squared up to Mitchell Johnson who can certainly be an intimidating bowler.

On a related note, Ricky Ponting’s decision to send India in was one of the strangest things I’ve seen in 20 years of watching cricket.
It was a cracking pitch. Ponting said he wanted to exploit the dew factor which would make bowling difficult at night.
Never mind that rubbish.
As WG Grace once famously said : When you win the toss – bat. If you are in doubt, think about it, then bat. If you have very big doubts, consult a colleague – then bat.