Dhoni-ed!

I have come out of considerable hibernation to wax lyrical about Dhoni once again.

I must say, at the risk of sounding obsessed and repetitive, that with each match, I become a bigger and bigger Dhoni fan. His captaincy just keeps improving, and his presentation speeches are refreshing and unrepetitive. He's changed his batting style for the team's common cause. And his wicketkeeping has grown in leaps and bounds. I think I can safely say that he's about the 3rd best wicketkeeper playing now, behind Adam Gilchrist (who's form has dipped considerably now, but he was brilliant before) and Mark Boucher, and perhaps equal to Kumar Sangakkara.

And the funniest thing is, he's a such an unfussy keeper, no one's really noticed how good he's become. Because he's always in the limelight as a batsman and a captain, no one's realised that he's fast growing to become one of the best keepers.

And what about those presentation ceremony speeches, eh? They're really something else.
Today he was asked about why he's changed his game around so much from before. Yes, he mentioned that the team needed him to play that way etc. But he also talked about how he was having fun batting in this way, because he found it more fun to tease the fielders with cheeky singles and twos and threes. It was fun to listen to.

And after that match against Aussie which India won, when asked why the fielding has suddenly improved so much, he didn't go off on a vein about youngsters and their energy (which is the boring, commonplace answer). He went in-depth to analyse how the grounds in India have improved and hence the players can actually learn to dive etc. without worrying that they will just injure themselves. Hence the new crop of cricketers are more willing to throw themselves around in the field. It was so interesting to listen to.

I'm loving this new look India, despite Jammy's absence. Now if RP Singh were to recover and be back in the side, India would truly look complete. And with Dhoni at the helm, for the moment at least, it feels like the only way we're going is forward in full speed.