MS Dhoni shows ice cool nerve in the midst of a tension filled run chase © Getty Images
By David Green
You've got to hand it to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, he really is the Fonz when it comes to batting in one-day cricket. Indeed, we have now officially designated Dhoni as the King of Cool.
There's been a lot written about Wales' impeccable preparation for the Rugby World Cup, which featured cryotherapy whereby the players would have to tolerate two five-minute spells per day in a freezing chamber where temperatures drop to -101C.
Dhoni doesn't need anything that - he just strolls to the middle with ice cool nerve in the midst of a tension filled run chase with his side requiring anything over seven runs per over.
After his masterful 91 not out and final flourish of a six won India the World Cup Final earlier this year, yesterday's chase in Mohali was but a mere inconvenience to the man who is as cool as a cucumber.
Jade Dernbach may be having a torrid time in this series, but he was correct in his assessment that Dhoni is India's key batsman in the one-day game, it's just that he neither his colleagues can get the Indian skipper out.
In the run-up to this series we suggested that Dhoni's crown had slipped on account of his previously unblemished captaincy record being badly dented in England this summer, but irrespective of what the rankings say we regard Dhoni as the best one-day batsman in the world at the Reverse Sweep.
Last week in Hyderabad he skillfully led India from a position of parity to a total of 300, and in the third One-Day International, he once again displayed his unrivalled ability to time a run-chase.
So, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, we crown you the King of Cool!
(David Green is the brain behind the irreverent The Reverse Sweep blog and also writes for a number of cricket publications and sites such as World Cricket Watch. You can follow him on Twitter also@TheReverseSweep. David was a decent schoolboy and club cricketer (and scored his maiden 100 the same week that Sachin Tendulkar scored his first Test ton) but not good enough to fulfil his childhood dream of emulating Douglas Jardine by winning the Ashes in Australia and annoying the locals into the bargain. He now lives with his wife and two young children in the South of France and will one day write the definitive biography of Hedley Verity)
