Eight years later, roles have changed. Dhoni is no longer the captain of the team. Shastri is now the head coach of the squad led by Virat Kohli. And more importantly, Dhoni himself doesn’t enjoy the role of the finisher as much as he did in his prime. Failures have come thick and fast in the last two seasons and even Dhoni hasn’t escaped the public scrutiny.

In fact, Dhoni had a horrid time the last time he played for India in England. In the three-match ODI series played last year, Dhoni was completely out of form and lacked that finesse and tenacity which one associates with the wicketkeeper-batsman. His strike rate was so slow that he was even booed at Lord’s when India was chasing 323. Dhoni managed to score only 79 runs from 125 balls in two innings against England and was heavily criticised by the pundits as well.

Dhoni might be ranked as one of India’s most successful captains, but after the England tour, questions were raised on his approach to batting with some even suggesting that he was detrimental to the team’s hopes at the upcoming World Cup.

However, like many great cricketers, the 37-year-old didn’t answer the critics with his words but instead gave fitting replies with the bat, scoring runs in bulk thereafter. He has been in exceptional form this year: in nine ODIs, he has scored 327 runs, hitting four half-centuries, three of them in a row during the tour of Australia.