DHONI CASTIGATES KIWIS

Dhoni en route to his century against New Zealand in Chennai

When was the last time we witnessed captain MS Dhoni smashing the white cricket ball all around the park ? When was the last match when he himself had a strike rate of more than 100 ? Hmm.. Nothing off late that atleast I can think of. Well, the only innings of his that hits my mind on those line is his super knock of 54 not out for his franchisee Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 3 against the Kings XI Punjab, which eventually earned his team a berth in the semis. Had it not been for the couple of sixes he hit off Irfan Pathan in the last over of the match, CSK would have been shown the doors.

He had been having a rough patch with the bat. The critics left no opportunity to take a dig at him but I, being an ardent fan and follower of MS and his instincts, was pretty sure that the moment was not very far away when he would bounce back like a 'phoenix'. And today was the day destined to silence all those people who thought he can't even hold the bat.

Team India played their second warm-up game at Chepauk stadium, Chennai against New Zealand. Little master Sachin Tendulkar was included in the side, just to give him that short practice he needs before the big opening match on 19 February against Bangladesh and also to let the regular Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar bat together before the main encounter. The opening stand did not do any wonders for the team as the New Zealand pace-attack was successful in dismissing them early in the innings. At one point, a score of 250 seemed impossible on the board with the team struggling to score at 5.00 runs per over. But thanks to some brilliant batting by Gautam Gambhir (89) and youngster Virat Kohli (59) the batting gained the much required momentum. Having said this, who would have imagined a total of an excess of 300 was in store for the Kiwis to chase?

Dhoni after blazing away to his century.

The stage was perfectly set for captain MS Dhoni to capitalize on the scoring rate, courtesy a good century stand between Gambhir and Kohli. He did the right thing by promoting himself up the order ahead of Yuvraj Singh. He did start off cautiously,obviously with his poor batting form in his mind, but wasted no time in slaughtering the Kiwi attack to reach a well deserved century off just 60 balls. This century, I am sure, will do him a world of good considering the crucial time it has come at.

Watch the highlights of Dhoni's brutal batting today:

Raina hit a fast 50 to boost his confidence after a lean patch

Suresh Raina soon joined the party smashing a much-needed half-century off 25 balls to raise his confidence bar, which has been slightly low in the recent past. He played a perfect companion to his skipper by getting runs from the other end. This helped the team keep the momentum going. Although he did well to score a 50 today, the final verdict whether he would make it to the final XI or not still remains doubtful, with the overall chances favouring Virat Kholi, simply because of the prime form he has been off late.

An interesting and unique co-incidence that struck my mind at this point of the match was a flavour of the IPL team 'Chennai Super Kings' that was around the ground. To start off, the match was being played in Chennai (the home ground of CSK), the two batsmen in the middle were Dhoni (captain of CSK) and Raina (Vice-Captain) and two of the bowlers who were being hit all over the park were Jacob Oram (an ex member of CSK) and Scott Styris ( a future CSK member slated to play in IPL 4). Because of some terrific batting by Gambhir, Kohli, Raina and the captain leading from the front with his unbeaten century knock, team India managed to post a mammoth total of 360, which almost gave them a victorybefore they could take the field for the second innings. But as they say, cricket is a funny and an unpredictable game.Anything can happen.

New Zealand did manage to get off to a flyer, thanks to some onslaught by openers Brendom McCullum and Martin Guptill. Just as they looked good to put up a century opening stand spinner Ashwin played a spoilsport by scalping Guptill caught behind by Dhoni. McCullum did well to reach his half-century but soon departed run out by Dhoni / Raina. Ryder looked decent but could not carry on for long as the spin spearhead Harbhajan had him caught by Yuvraj.

Indian spinners once again at their level best.

After this, the Kiwis seemed to jump all over the place and a couple of wickets each by Chawla, Harbhajan, Yuvraj and Nehra (at the end) ensured the team a comprehensive 117 run victory. This once again proved the spin-friendly conditions of the tracks in the sub-continent. I, at times wonder if we at all require Zaheer Khan, Nehra, Sreesanth and Munaf Patel in the team. Might as well players like Harbhajan, Ashwin, Chawla, Yuvraj, Raina and Pathan do the job.

There is no doubt that Team India has had a couple of wonderful warm up games. But, now its time to keep these sweet memories behind and gear up for the main challenge. I am sure they have already done that. Not to forget they will be facing Bangladesh on their home soil. The home support will play a big hand. For team India, this is the best time to take a revenge against the team who destroyed their dreams of qualifying for the next round of matches in the 2007 World Cup.

Let's hope that the 'Men in Blue' take all the positives, not only from the last couple of warm up matches, but whatever they have gained over the past 2 years which has given them the no.2 ODI ranking and the no.1 Test status.

I wish MS and his army all the very best for the first encounter !!! Rock the world guyz !!