Dhoni

Calcutta: Team India’s two-wicket win at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday not only boosted their chances of making the best-of-three tri-series finals, but ensured that the players’ auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) didn’t get under way hours after yet another defeat.

The eight franchise owners could’ve been severely embarrassed putting thousands of dollars on a bunch of non-performers.

The IPL auction, a buzz-creating first, is slated to begin in Mumbai at 11.00am and could continue for as long as 12 hours.

As it turned out, the two who wouldn’t have lost a cent — captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and vice-captain Yuvraj Singh — are the ones who played the biggest hand in beating Sri Lanka.

Just about one may say, but the bottomline is that we got four points.

Given that The Telegraph’s sources have confirmed Dhoni and Yuvraj have been at the forefront of the let’s-move-forward-with-youngsters-only drive, they actually helped score another point too.

Indeed, soon after Yuvraj walked in (three down for 35), a section of the turnout began displaying an emotional banner: ‘Old is Gold — Dada, Dravid, Laxman — Bring them back in the ODIs’.

Another loss and more such banners would’ve begun to surface.

It was two years ago, on the tour of Pakistan, that Dhoni and Yuvraj (both held no position then) forged partnerships which made a difference. In Lahore, at the National Stadium in Karachi…

There have been other contributions of note, but given the larger picture Dhoni and Yuvraj have in mind, the one on Tuesday (no more than 59 in terms of cold runs) will probably be significant with a capital S.

What is, of course, remarkable is that captaincy has changed Dhoni’s approach — to batting, at least.

Dhoni hasn’t lost the skills of a finisher, rather he’s got matured. Testimony being his unbeaten 50 at Sri Lanka’s expense.

Forget a six, Dhoni didn’t even hit a four! Moreover, he took the singles, twos and threes despite again being bothered by cramps.

No wonder Dhoni’s getting high marks as captain.