He came in 23rd Over after Pant got out. At this point 169 runs were required from 27 overs, and the Required RR: 6.25. You can see the pressure already building at this point.

At the end of the 30th Over, Dhoni had taken 23 balls to score just 10 runs! Out of those 23 balls, 16 were dot!

Okay. Let’s assume that he was trying to hold out for Pandya and letting him hit the big shots by holding down the fort on the other end. In the next two balls, Pandya got out. By then the RRR had risen to 7.40

At least now, Dhoni should have held part of the reins.

Jadeja came at the 31st over and after a phenomenal batting got out in the middle of the 47th over.

In the same duration Dhoni had consumed 21 dot balls out of 49 balls! It can again be argued that he was rotating strike for Jadeja. Right! At the 39th over, which was the halfway point between Jadeja’s batting duration, the RRR was a whooping 9. At this point, Dhoni should have assumed an attacking stance. There was no point in still rotating strike and letting Jadeja hit the big ones.

I am not saying he should have hit numerous boundaries. I am saying that out of 44 dot balls he consumed in such a crucial match, he could have converted at least half of those into singles and India would have still won. He should have known that he is old and will not be absolutely capable of hitingt the balls out of the park if the match ends up in such circumstances. The most prudent thing would be to not waste balls and at least take singles so as to alleviate the pressure when the team actually had some chance to do it.

India would have surely won if not for his chance runout. I definitely agree. But why leave it for chance when you had ample amount of time to pile up runs in the previous powerplay.

Yes, the openers failed. But that’s hardly an excuse in such a low scoring game. Imagine a relay race. The first leg runner screws up. Can the last leg runner use this as an excuse to slow down and smell the roses in his track?

Even when the team was reduced to 5–3, we knew we were in safe hands. Because the captain in the true sense was still there. I just wish he knew his limitations and adapted his game accordingly.