Struggling Dhoni is taking it to bitter end

In the waning moments of Sunday's game between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, Mahendra Singh Dhoni looked old.

- Ashish Magotra

NEW DELHI: He looked like he was 43. He looked like a man who had run into a wall. He looked like a finisher who was finished.

In professional sport, you are only as good as your last match. And if there is an iota of truth in that statement, Dhoni's decreasing returns with the bat should have CSK and his fans worried.

Dhoni is, in the eyes of many, the greatest finisher the game has seen and much of that reputation was not built on his hitting prowess but on the manner in which he would break down a chase. Take it to the last over, wait for the bowler to crack and then finish it. No one else did it like him.

Well, he is still taking it to the end but at the moment, it seems like the bitter end. Perhaps, the problem (and it is our problem, not Dhoni's) is that we still expect Dhoni to do the same things that he was doing 18 editions back in IPL's first season.

He isn't the same player anymore. Still as sharp but physically he isn't there anymore. On Sunday, when Dhoni walked in to bat, CSK needed 54 off 25 balls. The old Dhoni would have broken it down — 13.5 runs needed, off just over four overs. That is doable. Difficult but not impossible.