Legendary Indian cricketer and World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni expressed his admiration for the increasingly aggressive style of Test cricket being played today, driven by a mindset that seeks to avoid draws. Dhoni made these comments during an event in Goa, highlighting how cricket has evolved significantly over the years.
Evolution of Cricket
“You can give cricket any term that you want to; what we have seen is cricket has evolved. The way people are playing cricket is very different. There was a time when in ODIs something was considered a safe score; now that score is not safe in T20s too,” Dhoni stated.
He elaborated on the nature of the game, saying, “You give something a term, it becomes much more interesting because you start talking about it, you start relating to it. But at the end of the day, what is it? It’s a way to play cricket. Some people want to play aggressive cricket, some people want to play authentic cricket. A lot of that depends on the kind of team you have got—whether they can change the way they play. What is important is to realize the strength of your team, and according to that strength, you decide which way you want to play cricket. But it takes time. It does not happen overnight. You need to give time to individuals because they have played maybe 10-12-15 years of cricket, and they have a certain way of playing.”
Challenges of Draws
Dhoni recalled the challenges he faced during his playing days, particularly when draws seemed inevitable on the final day of a Test match. “For me, the most difficult time during a Test match was the fifth day of a match, when you knew that 10 percent of the time it was going to be a draw. I would still need to keep for nearly 2.5 sessions, and that was the most tiring part. You see there is no result happening; you are just going through the motions. Yes, bowlers would like to take wickets, batters will try to score runs, but there is no result in the game. You think, ‘let’s finish this and go; why do I have to be here?’ So I love the fact there is change in the way teams are playing Test cricket.”
Results-Oriented Approach
The iconic cricketer argued that draws are detrimental to the game, emphasizing the positive shift towards result-oriented matches. “Imagine telling someone who does not know much cricket that we play over five days and start at 9:30 AM, and 4:30 PM is the scheduled end of play. We play till 5 PM sometimes, and after five days, we do not get a result. That is not nice for the game. So I love how there are more results in today’s world. Even if we are playing only four days of cricket and one day gets washed out, you still get a result—that is the beauty of Test cricket, and that is how it should stay. You want to get a result after five days, and you should not have a draw,” he concluded.
Dhoni’s Test Career
In his Test career, Dhoni played 90 matches from 2005 to 2014, scoring 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09, with six centuries and 33 fifties. His highest score was 224. As the date for the Indian Premier League (IPL) retentions approaches, all eyes will be on Dhoni to see if he will play another season for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).