Edge-bastion: Dhoni re-invents self - TeluguPeople.com News

Birmingham: It never used to be his habit to theorise cricket with the bat. For Mahendra Singh Dhoni, batting used to be an uncomplicated art. It got corrupted lately, when he introduced thinking into his batting.

The chill in the breeze, clouds in the sky and movement of the ball had made him think about technique, footwork, straight bat, etc. The result was a series of poor scores of 28, 16, 5 and 0.

On Wednesday, he banished all the intellectual cobwebs from his mind and showed his true buccaneering self. He hooked one for a six when there was a fine-leg and long-leg. It was Dhoni unbound. It was the Dhoni one was used to seeing. India needed him to stay longer and wanted another batsman to compliment his effort. Neither happened.

So the Day One of the third Test went by the script. English bowlers, lucky to be using the perfect bowling conditions first, extended their stranglehold over the Indian batsmen and put the Test and series out of the visitors' reach. At the time of going to press, they were 51 for no loss after skittling India for a miserable 224. Andrew Strauss & Co were in control of the Test.

But for some part of the day, Dhoni showed he can control the innings with the bat. In an innings of enchanting defiance, determination and aggression, the India skipper unleashed a spell of counterattack on the English bowlers who had reduced India to 111 for seven.

The vicissitudes of the pitch and the English weather failed to faze him as he hammered a swashbuckling 77 (off only 96 balls) to accord respect to India's total. But for a single error in judgement, which brought about his sudden dismissal, Dhoni looked set for his fifth Test hundred.

Dhoni came after India managed to find themselves in a mess. Virender Sehwag, with huge expectations from him, lasted just one ball. Sachin Tendulkar, who, too, was at the centre of expectations, managed to survive only seven more deliveries.

Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman got themselves into a fine position, but failed to capitalise on their starts. From 59 for one, they slipped to 111 for seven. It was then that Dhoni came and bailed India out of trouble, although in the larger picture, a total of 224 may appear to be 200 runs too short.

But then India failed to counter the new ball. Sehwag faced a nasty delivery first up. He would want to leave it but the ball would not rise to the expected height. In the very second over, the Edgbaston pitch started misbehaving.

Gambhir started with a flurry of boundaries and Dravid, at the other end, blunted the bowlers with his nimble footwork and excellent judgement.

Just when India appeared to have recovered from the early loss of Sehwag, the English bowlers, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan in particular, unleashed a wave of unplayable deliveries on the Indians. Gambhir, Tendulkar and Dravid were gone in quick succession.

Laxman showed his artistry briefly but fell trying to hook one from Bresnan before Raina was sent back by James Anderson.