About Dhoni(-worma)

I've been refraining from posting too much about Indian performances recently, since it appears that when we are doing well...things are relatively calm out here..in blogosphere as well:-) And most of the positives are pretty much in the open, for all to see. Its when we're losing that we start finding faults in each and every move...evenly distributing blame to all quarters.

But one personal observation about Dhoni I would indeed like to share. To me, he seems to have moved from 'potential' to 'reliable' position in his first international season itself. With his mature knocks interspersed with the blitzkrieg...he has reached a position where his presence at the crease, even at the tense moments of a tricky chase, would inspire hope in the fans. That all is not lost yet. Even if he's playing with a tailender at the other end. The kind of feeling reserved only for good specialist batsmen (RD, SRT, SG, Yuv etc) in the past. Here's what Ranatunga says about him in his recent article

He has not allowed the success to get to him, he could still have been in a reverie, on high clouds sleep walking in dream on the stupor of Jaipur. In less than two days, he has moved ahead from Jaipur. Lesser mortals don't manage it in a lifetime.

Ofcourse it doesn't mean he's as good as those others *yet* (we don't know, atleast) or that he will succeed each time we get him in that position(who does?). Its just the 'status' he has achieved, and so soon, as a batsman.