When South Africa toured India last year for a Test series, Mahendra Dhoni was just another aspirant for the Indian cricket team and played a tour game against them.
Exactly a year later, when they are visiting for five one-dayers starting on Wednesday, not only is he a front-line player but a more swashbuckling batsman than even the likes of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.
The 24-year-old wicketkeeper with shoulder-length locks and rugged looks is now the scourge of bowlers, the darling of millions and a potential model for scores of advertisers.
Dhoni may not have played a Test yet, but in 26 one-dayers since his debut in Bangladesh late last year he has shown great potential both as a wicketkeeper and a destroyer of both fast and slow bowling.
In a team bereft of genuine all-rounders, Dhoni is the only claimant to the spot with consistent performances and match-winning efforts.
A man-of-the-series award in a seven-match one-day series against Sri Lanka last week proved that a flamboyant knock of 148 against Pakistan in April was not a flash in the pan.
If the 15 boundaries and four sixes he hit in Visakhapatnam against their arch-rivals sounded his potential, an even more devastating 183 not out at Jaipur in the third match of the recent series proved it.
Dhoni felled record after record as he unleashed a flurry of sixes much to the chagrin of the Sri Lankans, who went on to lose the series 6-1.
His knock was the highest by a wicketkeeper in one-day internationals, the highest by a number-three batsman and equalled the second-highest score by an Indian.
His 10 sixes in the match was the most by an Indian batsman and just one short of the world record held jointly by Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi hit on smaller grounds in Singapore and Nairobi.
Dhoni plays the traditional attacking shots with a high backlift and the bat swinging hard at an angle from the slips, but coupled with superb footwork, his shots have been hard to curtail thus far.
His tally from boundaries in Jaipur was 120, also a world record, as he justified the faith of the new captain-coach combination of Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell, who promoted him to number three.
That slot got him both the memorable tonnes, but he also displayed against Sri Lanka the capability to finish matches with cameo knocks down the order.
”I have been given different responsibilities and I am trying to play accordingly,” said Dhoni, who is the first from the eastern state of Jharkhand to represent India.
”I have had to bat differently because of different slots. At Jaipur, we were chasing a big target [299] and I went for my shots. In other matches, I had to finish off the game and played according to need.”
Dhoni, who played domestic cricket for four years before breaking open the doors of international cricket with two centuries against Pakistan A in a tri-series in Kenya, feels experience has proved vital.
”I have played a lot of domestic cricket and batted at different slots in the four-day games and that has helped me,” said Dhoni, who comes from a humble background in Jharkhand’s capital of Ranchi.
Dhoni’s batting has got rave reviews, but his work behind the stumps too has been appreciated at a time when India have been trying a number of wicketkeepers in an effort to balance glove work and batting capability.
”I have improved my wicketkeeping since our tour of Sri Lanka [for a tri-series also featuring the West Indies] earlier this year and am keen to do better in the coming days,” he said.
Dhoni’s tally of 871 runs may not be intimidating, but his average of more than 50 and a strike-rate of more than 108 is bound to be a source of worry to many.
Graeme Smith’s South African side, on a 19-match unbeaten spree, will be the ones needing to watch out for Dhoni in the immediate future. — Sapa-AFP