M S Dhoni made his debut for India in 2004 against
Bangladesh and by the sheer volume of runs which he scored in the ODI cricket,
he was entrusted with the responsibility
of leading the side in the shortest form of the game in a world cup in 2007. India shocked all
other top teams and went on to win the world cup which looked a distant dream when
the tournament started in South Africa. What was very refreshing to see was the
attitude of Dhoni while captaining a
fairly inexperienced T 20 squad. One of
the marquee features of Dhoni as a
captain was his ability to take a few calculated risks on the field. Whether
it be changing the batting positions of some key players or giving the last
over to a Joginder Sharma instead of
other experienced bowlers in the T20
world cup final against arch rivals Pakistan. Luckily for Dhoni his unconventional moves paid off during his
early days as captain. Dhoni enjoyed tremendous success in his initial 2-3 years
of captaincy. Later in Dec 2009 he even
lead India to the numero uno position in test cricket after beating Sri Lanka
2-0 at home.
M S Dhoni and his team became the
toast of the nation when they won the cricket world cup held in the
subcontinent defeating Sri Lanka in the finals. Dhoni played a captains knock
in the final scoring 91 runs and guiding India to victory. What was even more
impressive was the confidence he had in
his own ability when he promoted himself as against Yuvraj Singh who was having
a dream run in the tournament while Dhoni was himself struggling to get a big
score. The real test for Dhoni started when India toured England and Australia where
the team was routed losing all their 8 test matches on these tours. Dhoni was criticized justifiably for his over
defensive field settings and unimaginative tactics on the field. What made
matters worse was his public remarks about the senior players criticizing them
for being too slow on the field thereby justifying his rotation policy in the tri
series down under. Although Dhoni had
some valid points but the stage which he chose was certainly not called for
especially when the team was on a losing rut. There has been enough written
about his spat with Virender Sehwag . The two senior players have never enjoyed
the best of relations. There have been instances when Dhoni has dropped Sehwag
on the ground of fitness however Sehwag has publicly declared himself fit
thereby adding fuel to fire.
Dhoni has not distinguished himself during some of the press conferences where
he has openly criticized some of the senior players. There also seems to be a
stubborn attitude as far as selection of some of the players is concerned.
Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma are classic examples wherein Dhoni has persisted
with these players despite their poor performances. Suresh Raina is a decent
one day player but until he develops ways of sorting the short ball, he will be
a dead duck in the longer format. Backing a talented player like Rohit Sharma
is indeed laudable but despite giving him numerous chances, Rohit Sharma has
come a cropper so far which begs the question as to why are other first class
players not getting opportunities to prove themselves?
In the test matches, Dhoni seems
to be a leader who fears losing and therefore is a bit too conservative in his
approach especially during the overseas tours last year where his captaincy was
found wanting. Far too often have we witnessed Dhoni going on the defensive as
far as field placings are concerned. In the recently concluded T20 world cup
against Proteas, when India needed to restrict them under 122 in order to
qualify for the semis, Dhoni bowled Rohit Sharma ahead of R Ashwin at a critical juncture when the Proteas
could have been made to work harder in order to achieve 122 runs. I sincerely
that looking at his overseas
performances in tests Dhoni does not warrant a place in the side purely
as a batsman. Dhoni clearly has lost the midas touch and should be relinquished
from captaincy as far as test matches is concerned. He can continue leading the
team in the ODI’S as well as T20 but from a long term objective, his shelf life
as an Indian captain has surely expired. It is quite possible that freed from
captaincy, Dhoni can play the role of an aggressive no 7 in tests. Looking at
the present form his test career seems to be in a jeopardy.
No comments:
Post a Comment