Rejuvenated Dhoni eyes series-clinching win on home ground

Rediscovering himself in the twilight of his career, a rejuvenated Mahendra Singh Dhoni would look to continue his regained form and guide India to a series-clinching win when the team takes on New Zealand in the fourth cricket ODI, here tomorrow.
A batsman, wicketkeeper, and a cool-headed skipper, all rolled into one, Dhoni promoted himself to No.4 in the last ODI in Mohali and set up the seven-wicket win in the company of Virat Kohli to give the hosts a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
Dhoni's 91-ball 80 in Mohali also took him to the club of 9,000 runs. He became the first to reach there with an average of 50 or more.

The limited-overs captain and Ranchi's favourite son may be seen in his last appearance at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium Complex here which has hosted three ODIs and one T20I, with India winning all of them except for a rain-marred one-dayer.
Dhoni's deputy, Kohli, will also look forward to return to the venue where he has scores of 77 not out and 139 not out in his two unconquered ODI innings here.
Regarded among the best batsmen of modern era, Kohli once again showed how dangerous he can be after being dropped early in his innings in Mohali. He came on his own after the reprieve on six and scripted a flawless 154 not out off 134 balls to take India past New Zealand's 285 in the third ODI.

It was Kohli's 26th century -- 22 in winning cause, same as Sachin Tendulkar -- and 14 in successful chases.

And come tomorrow, stopping the 27-year-old Delhi batsman would be a first in New Zealand's wish-list.
In their decisive 151-run third wicket partnership, Dhoni showed a renewed optimism and hunger while Kohli was at his clinical best.
To say that Dhoni has past his prime would be too early but the 35-year-old has himself acknowledged his diminishing prowess in Mohali, something that prompted him to elevate himself to No.4 in the batting line-up.
"To some extent I am losing my ability to freely rotate in the middle. If it keeps on happening for a long time, tendency is you don't fluently rotate strike and that was what was happening with my batting," he had said.

Back home where it all began for Dhoni, it will be an emotional match for the Indian skipper, who has won every ICC trophy and he would look to make the outing a memorable one.
Dhoni's return to form would be a dangerous signal for the Kiwis, who are desperate to prove a point after their 0-3 whitewash in the Test series.
Despite opting to rest their three premier bowlers in the Tests -- Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja keeping in view the gruelling home season ahead -- India have done reasonably well in the bowling department.
(REOPENS DEL 13)

While India's first innings efforts in both Test matches -- 488 and 455 -- have been good but it has not exactly been a collective one with only Murali Vijay contributing up the order with a hundred, besides Pujara and Kohli.
The only person who could be a touch worried is Ajinkya Rahane as his total runs from 4 innings is a mere 63.
For someone who has the distinction of scoring a hundred at both Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and the Lord's, Rahane is too good a player to fail for long.
The talented Mumbai batsman was seen speaking to Australian batsman Dean Jones after his net session yesterday.

While it seemed like a chance meeting, Jones was seen trying to show Rahane a thing or two about footwork.
For KL Rahul, fast-tracked into the playing XI for the second Test by pulling him out of Ranji Trophy, skipper Kohli and the selectors have shown how eagerly they waited for his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Rahul has always had good scores to show after a failure and the Mangalore lad would want to do the same.
India's bowling is more or less sorted with Ravichandran Ashwin leading the charge.
One of India's premier match-winners, Ashwin is at the cusp of another record. Another five-wicket haul will put him at par with Kapil Dev's 23. Considering it will be Ashwin's 42nd Test match, the record would be phenomenal purely in terms of numbers as Dev had this record in 131 matches.

Out of the 32 England wickets taken by bowlers, the spinners have accounted for 24 of them which includes 11 in the name of Ashwin, 6 for Ravindra Jadeja, 4 for rookie Jayant Yadav and 3 for Amit Mishra.
The contribution of Mohammed Shami with the new as well as the old ball cannot be discounted. He might have taken only five wickets but the dismissal of Alastair Cook, when his stump was broken into two pieces, can easily be termed the 'ball of the series'.
Shami could again show his prowess in reverse swing. While Umesh Yadav has also bowled his heart out, the presence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar gives the team management another option of a potent swing bowler, who has now increased his pace and also developed the reverse swing.

For England, there had been some good performances but nothing spectacular. While Haseeb Hameed can be termed the 'find of the tour' for England, they would expect one among Ben Stokes (233), Joe Root (206) or skipper Alastair Cook (207) to score a 'Daddy Hundred', which the visitors desperately need.
Adil Rashid may have got the maximum wickets (13), but he has been inconsistent at times giving away too many loose deliveries.
In all, it could well turn out to be a battle of attrition for Cook and his men.