Is it time for MS DHONI to open in t20s?

Things are not going to be very easy in cricket specially when you are in your thirty-six. So, yes. Dhoni is aging and nearing his end in cricket and especially in internationals. Your past records can never save you, if your current game is heading in a negative path. Captaincy skills and the moral support that MS provides to the team is tremendous and that is the big or the only reason for his survival in the national team and definitely not his batting skills. MS hasn’t got a sound batting technique and he is ageing. Which means, things don’t go hand in hand.

Dhoni is a player who eats up lots of balls to get into rhythm and we all know that he can start firing up once he gets the rhythm and can carry the momentum throughout. It might be a wise decision to send him at no.4 in ODIs but not in t20s. As he has become old and he takes a lot of balls to get the momentum, with just twenty overs to play,  trying to gather momentum for a long time when he has got in at no.4 is not a good idea. As a no. 4 player comes to bat between the 13th and 16th over, eating up lot of balls is not going to help the team at all. As the 15th to 20th overs are highly crucial in t20s, even if he gets the momentum, he has got very few balls to fire and the case is going to be worse if he fails to perform.

Moving up the order will give him the freedom to take his own time and to read the pitch conditions. Also this  will relatively reduce the pressure on the other players specially when there is Kohli at no.3 who can eat up a lot of pressure without getting affected by it. Keeping in mind that Kohli cannot give away his position to anyone as he performs his best at no.3. Kedar Jadav, Yuvi and Hardik pandya make a good middle order and we all have seen Panday’s ability to finish the innings for the Indian team and he has the capability to replace the finisher, Dhoni. Not to forget that MS is somebody who keeps rotating the strike. So, he will be able to maintain the his strike rate at 100 or above, which won’t affect the team’s run-rate as it is the starting overs and also the other opener can play with a better strike rate. Now, after few overs if MS Dhoni starts firing, it is going to boost the team’s score by good margin. Should Indian team consider the opinion of sending MS as opener??

Comment your opinions.