Trailing Lanka must attack

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But taking the eyes away from the field and on to the scoresheets of the past nine games Dhoni has led in,leads to a few pointers that show a surprisingly old-fashioned mindset.

As is the case ahead of the final Test of this series against Sri Lanka,Dhoni has thrice gone into the last game with a 1-0 lead. And each time he has adopted the ‘safety first’ approach.

Last year,going into Nagpur with a 1-0 lead against Australia,he famously/ controversially adopted an 8-1 off-side field to stifle the visiting batsmen,who choked under pressure and went on to lose the game. Against England one month later,India dominated right through but delayed their declaration to allow Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh score centuries,leaving the bowlers just 43 overs to bowl the Englishmen out a second time. More recently,going into the Wellington Test with a 1-0 lead,Dhoni set the visitors an impossible target of 617 in the fourth innings,despite rain being forecast on the final day. The match was eventually called off with India two wickets away from a win. Chances are the next five days will once again see Dhoni switch from Captain Cool to Captain Conservative.

India,under him,hasn’t tried to ruthlessly knock out rivals that are on the ropes,with Dhoni ensuring,rather,that he and the team do not let the guard down as has happened so often in the past.

More of the same?

With the stakes high this time — India wouldn’t want to allow Sri Lanka to achieve their much-talked-about first win here,while a series win will see them move to the top of the ICC Test rankings — a change of approach at the Barbourne doesn’t seem on the cards,especially with India missing their most prolific batsman in Gautam Gambhir for the final Test.

Dhoni said at the pre-match press conference that winning the series was important,even though the players weren’t thinking about the rankings. “You want to play your natural game,the whole team wants to play according to the game plan. We don’t really think about the ratings because we know that if we keep playing well,the ratings will take care of themselves,” he said.

On a pitch that both captains say will have something for both spinners and pacers,Dhoni is likely to play smart and exploit Sri Lanka’s desperation,by making the visitors do all the running. And if India do manage to be successful,Dhoni would have completed 10 Tests and four Test series without losing a game.