India's one-day skipper hasn't had the most fruitful time with the bat on this tour. Having plumped for and been entrusted with a youngish side for the triangular series, it was essential for Dhoni at a personal level to work his way amongst the runs. With the team under great pressure as Sri Lanka worked their way through the middle-order on Tuesday evening, Dhoni once again showcased his great maturity as well as his ability to adapt to situations.

Over the last several months, the only top-gear, ball-slamming big-hitter has transformed into an astute selector of which deliveries to put away. In that graduation, he has been aided by the increasing consistency with which bowlers have refrained from bowling to his strengths, forcing him to discover another venues to accrue runs.
The Jharkhandi hasn't quite managed the towering skyscrapers, but he has shown more than enough signs that he is working out scoring options that he didn't need to look for in the past.

Analysis
Such is the beauty of technology, and the scope for omniscient analysis it offers, that teams worldwide use it as a 12th man, so to say, poring over videos to build data bases on all international players. A little over three years old at the top level -- and he is already India captain! -- Dhoni has played enough for oppositions to identify his strengths and weaknesses; consequently, teams have sought to tuck him up by bowling short and into the body, not giving him either the fullness in length or the width that allows him to free his arms and hit through the line.
Increasingly, it is likely that we will see less and less of Dhoni the destroyer. Opposition tactics and the responsibilities of captaincy will necessarily temper his approach, but as Dhoni has already displayed, while he might be a less bruising batsman, he will court greater consistency with the onus on innings-building rather than all-out attack.

Solid start
Tuesday was a case in point. India had casually tossed away the solid start provided by Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, slipping from 68 without loss to 83 for four, when the captain joined Gambhir. His guiding hand was visible at every step of the unbroken 184-run association, even if Gambhir was the senior partner in every sense of the term.

The ease with which the two first released the pressure by continuing to rotate the strike without taking undue risks was straight out of the Australian philosophy of batting; the disdain with which the bowlers were carted around in the last ten overs was all indigenous flair from Gambhir and innovative brilliance from his captain.

Dhoni has never been short on self-belief, but the unconquered 88 couldn't have been timed better. As vice-captain of the Test squad, the gloveman had the best seat in the ground watching Anil Kumble lead by example, not only through his skills with the ball and determination with the bat, but also with a surety of purpose and an unmistakable touch of dignity that won the veteran leggie numerous thousand more fans in the autumn of his career. Dhoni is his own man, but that is not to say that he wouldn't have taken on board Kumble's never-say-die attitude on and off the field. The more you think of it, the more sense it makes for Dhoni to have been under-studying Kumble in the most demanding overseas assignment for an Indian captain.

Looking ahead
The national selectors were happy to give Dhoni the team he wanted for the tri-series, buying into his thinking that it was time to start musing into the future. Dhoni has certainly ruffled more than a few feathers in the last fortnight or so, but his certainty of thought and his complete conviction in his actions have remained steadfast allies.

Through this tour, his glovework has exponentially improved. Feeding off the luxury of trusting the bounce, he has also moved better behind the stumps than at any stage of his still blossoming career. His batting has been cloaked in cautious construction rather than carefree abandon in a concession to the quality of the bowling. His captaincy skills haven't been tested -- yet -- but they will be, soon. It is unlikely that Dhoni will be found wanting on that count either.