Who can defuse Dhoni?

By John Cheeran
When Kapil Dev used to walk into the middle with India gasping for breath, the good old radio commentator used to say that complexion of the game is going to be changed.
Sometimes the match did turn on its head.
Most often it did not.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni brings to the crease the kind of buzz Kapil used to generate years ago. Dhoni, in a brief time, has emerged as India’s executioner of enemies, par excellence.
Dhoni relies on the raw energy of milk and muscle to hammer the ball out of the park, to use a cliché, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat for India.
MSD is not just a flash in the pan.
MSD is the nuclear warhead Indian captain Rahul Dravid can use to annihilate the opposition whether in one-dayers or in Tests.
The great quality about Dhoni is that he knows no fear; and is brave to cross the limits, whatever it is.
There were skeptics who questioned Dhoni’s durability as a stroke maker when he lashed out in the beginning of the season against Sri Lanka.
The just concluded Pakistan series should answer those critics.
To his credit, Dhoni has proved that he is no Atul Bedade or V.B. Chandrasekhar.
Dhoni knows how to build an innings, read the match situation and act accordingly rather than launch into a suicidal flurry of strokes and perish after a couple of miscued boundaries.
Dhoni is here to stay; Dhoni is here to take the battle to the rival camp.
And let him take advice from President Musharraf as far as a hair cut is concerned.