Durban, April 28: The swagger is missing. There is a concentrated effort to conceal the pain of failure in a smile.

Welcome to the new world of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. For a captain who could done nothing wrong, the Indian Premier League is turning out to be the litmus test for his skills as a captain. The Chennai Super Kings have only three points to show from five games and there is pressure on Dhoni to quickly turn the tables.

A reverse in the next few games could throw the inaugural edition runners out of the tournament here. "It is not about captaincy at all. It is about good batting and bowling. After a good start we did not do well between overs 10 to 15 and that also had a part to play in the defeat," said Dhoni after his team crashed to a six-wicket defeat to Deccan Chargers at Kingsmead on Monday.

Dhoni came down heavily on his bowlers for not executing their plans. "It is no secret that our bowling is not working well. We have failed to capitalise on what the batsmen have provided us with. The spinners contributed in this game but we have to reconsider our options with the medium pacers," said Dhoni. The skipper did not rule out the possibility of wholesale changes in the team for the next match against Rajasthan Royals. The CSK attack was short of ideas when Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs went on the attack. They have not been able to hit the right areas especially in the day games where there is little on offer for the ball.

Mathew Hayden’s consistent show has been the only spark amidst the gloom. With very little to prove, the burly opener has set the tone for his team every time only to see his teammates failing to build on it.

"There has been a lot of talk of retired players doing well in the IPL. One must not forget the likes of Shane Warne, Gilchrist and Hayden are extremely talented players who did the same at the highest level too," said Dhoni. The CSK skipper also complimented Hayden for working on his game even at this stage of his career. "He is not trying to hit the ball down the ground all the time. The way he is using the angle and pace of the ball for neat deflections is an education for all of us," said Dhoni.

Dhoni has been guilty of a few tactical errors in the IPL so far. In the opener against Mumbai Indians, R. Ashwin was picked ahead of L. Balaji and the specialist off-spinner was never bowled. And against the Chargers with the wicket playing slow and spinners hard to get after he did not try S. Badrinath who is regular with the ball than Suresh Raina.

"To bring on Badri at that stage would have been a huge gamble," said Dhoni.

But hasn’t Dhoni’s captaincy all been about thought out gambles and instinctive decisions? It’s time the Indian skipper pulled his thinking cap tighter.