South African captain De Villiers and West Indies' Gayle are two such players which would have kept Dhoni worried and required him to make some planning.
Mission AB was nipped in the bud, when the Proteas captain was run-out against India at the MCG and come Friday, the onus will be on Dhoni's men to stop the marauding Jamaican from repeating what he did to luckless Zimbabwean bowlers in Canberra during his double century.
"Frankly speaking, you can't do much because if the individual is hitting sixes as you can't have fields for it. More often than not, you'll lose the battle of short-pitched deliveries, if they hit you off the short-pitch stuff also. There's not much you can do," Dhoni observed when queried about impact players.
For Dhoni, the best is to 'bluff the batsman' with variation and nothing more than that.
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Dhoni said that when a Gayle or De Villiers is on rampage, it becomes even more important to get hold of the half chances that come your way.
"That's where I feel the bowler will have to take that extra initiative and they have to be backed well by the fielders because if you have a 50/50 opportunity and if you grab that, it will really ease up the pressure from the fast bowlers or the spinners. I think as a unit you have to hunt in pack."