The shoulders have dropped a bit, while there is a distinct lack of swagger that one has associated with him over the years. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, or MSD, still does not miss too many of the nicks behind the wicket while his agility in stumping is legendary, but he is looking like a shadow of his past in the ongoing Asia Cup.

The spotlight is very much on the much-decorated former Indian captain in the UAE, with Virat Kohli opting out of the tournament after a hectic tour of England and the field very much on the lookout for star value here for sustenance. There are not too many of Dhoni’s ilk left in active cricket who have been there and done that — but the pressure to match his past Herculean feats with the bat seems to have been weighing down the No. 7 shirt.

In the two group league matches so far, while Dhoni came in at No. 5 against qualifiers Hong Kong and was caught behind for no score while trying to cut, he did not get a chance to bat against Pakistan as India chased down a modest target of 163. There are at least three more matches (in the Super Four stage) and a likely final in the batting-friendly conditions in the Asia Cup, and it’s imperative that he vindicates the team management’s enormous faith ahead of the ICC World Cup next year.

It’s almost embarrassing to come to terms with the waning batting prowess of Dhoni — who had been struggling to keep the scoreboard moving early on. If there had been a progressive decline over the last few years, this calendar year has seen Dhoni’s strike rate drop to 70.47, his worst since his international debut in 2004. A ratio of 17.50 balls per boundary also fails to do justice to his reputation — and it has not improved despite the team management’s best efforts to make him ‘comfortable’ in the batting order.

The Shastri-Kohli combination has tried to relieve him of the finisher’s role by giving it to Hardik Pandya — with Dhoni now coming in at No. 5 or No. 6. In the series against South Africa earlier this year, Dhoni scrambled together 69 runs at a strike rate of 81.17 in four innings, including a 42 not out alone in Johannesburg.

He again had a quiet time with the bat in England — posing a conundrum that the Indian team has not been able to solve so far. It’s almost a given that the 2019 World Cup will be the last hurrah for this match-winner of Indian cricket, but it should not be primarily on reputation rather than overall form.

There is a mutual admiration society between Dhoni and Kohli — and the latter is candid about the invaluable inputs that one of the most successful captains in the history of the game brings to the table.

For now, Indian cricket can of course do with flashes of his vintage show with the bat.