IS DHONI'S HONEYMOON OVER?

By Prakash Krishnagiri


In the good old days, the captain had the final say in the Playing XI and decided on strategies on the field; be it the batting order, field placements or the bowling changes.   In modern day cricket the role of the captain has changed dramatically in the game of cricket

Things are different now-a-days.  The playing XI is no longer a prerogative of the captain of the Team.  The Captain deliberates the issue with his Vice-Captain, Coach and in some cases, few senior members of the Team before deciding on the inclusion and/or exclusion of a Player.

The Strategies and game plan are discussed in the Team meeting and a role is defined for each player.  Every Captain has more than a Plan while taking the field.  The decision to shift Plans is taken on the field depending on the match situation.  Though it might look as if the Captain is making those changes spontaneously, it normally is a result of few consultations with the team ‘Think Tank’ either in-between overs or during drinks breaks. 

The role of the captain in modern-day cricket is only that he is an executor of the plans.  His role also involves man-management and motivation of the Players.  A role perfectly executed by the Prince of Calcutta, Sourav Ganguly.  Very seldom you see captains taking a gamble by making a change or two in the bowling based on their instincts.  The key word here is ‘chance’ as this might or might not work.  The modern-day captain can only be praised for his excellent implementation skills rather than real captaincy skills.

The Indian Captain M.S. Dhoni has never impressed me as a Wicket-keeper or as a Captain.  He was tagged as the Indian Version of Adam Gilchrist for his batting prowess.  His wicket-keeping has improved a bit but still technically falling way short of international standards.

He was lucky to have been made the captain of the Indian team after Anil Kumble.  With seniors and Legends in the team, you really don’t need a good captain to lead the side.  Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman and Zaheer do not need a captain to tell them what to do.  They are all very senior and experienced when compared to Dhoni.  That is why Dhoni has been more successful in Test Cricket.  The seniors know their roles and have perfect understanding and reading of the match situation.  The real test for Dhoni, the Captain, comes only in the ODIs where he is leading a side consists predominantly of players Junior to him.

Ricky Ponting is going through the same.  He was talked about as one of the Best Captains of Australia.  To lead an Australian side consisting of Langer, Hayden, Martin, Warne, Mc Grath, Gilchrist, Lehman and Gillespie you don’t need any captaincy skills.  For this side, which was at the peak, I would argue that you actually needed a captain only to go and flip the coin at the toss.

The Captain only needs to be lucky to win the important toss and his players perform well on a given day. That is where Ponting and Dhoni came out on top all these days.  Once these two are presented with a young side, their ability to lead a side is under the scanner and they stand exposed.

The experts on the TV Channels might not agree with these known facts.  They are all former international players and they know this too well; but their job as Commentator or Expert will not allow them to say what they really want to say.  An outspoken commentator is yet to take a microphone.  Leading a younger side calls for inter-personal skills, (otherwise known as man-management), providing guidance and motivation where necessary.

Dhoni, looks adamant at times.  His weakness to lead a side consisting of seniors has been his problem right from the day he was appointed Captain of the Indian team.  He was always finding excuses not to include seniors in his team.  He was always saying ‘young legs’ are needed, etc.  See what he made the Board to do – get rid of Ganguli, Laxman and Dravid to a certain extent from his team. 

The persistence with Chawla despite criticisms in the Indian side is a classic example.  He wanted him in the side and therefore he now desperately wants Chawla to succeed to support his decision.   Let us leave the ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ on the Team changes.  Dhoni has been very vocal in his criticism on the Indian Fielding.  Why has he decided, time and again, to repeat the same in all the post-match press conferences?  The TV Commentators appreciate him for being man-enough to admit the teams fielding deficiencies.  In full honesty, the teams fielding in this world cup has been far better when compared to the recent past. 

Highlighting the Field lapses, time and again is like trying to put the blame of the poor performance on the Fielding.  This may also be a ploy of Dhoni to get rid of seniors and replace them with young legs without experience and maturity.   Indian Strength has been the batting and they failed us in 3 of the 5 games played so far.  Our bowling should have been competitive enough to defend a 300+ total against England.  The main cause for the loss against the South Africans was not the poor last over bowled by Ashish Nehra but the poor batting from the last 8 Indian batsmen.  In a tight game, small fielding lapses look big.  But not to forget, these games were made tight either by poor batting or poor bowling.  It is our own doing.   Dhoni makes swift dives to make up for his lack of footwork and wicket-keeping skills.  These more often look very spectacular for the shutter boxes.  This exempts him from criticism on the fielding aspect.

Even if we are to forgive him for his fielding comments in the public, the comment he made about the Indian batting in the Presentation party and the Post-match Conference after the loss against South Africa is unpardonable.  Dhoni implied that his batsmen were playing for the Gallery and not for the Team/Country.  This statement in public is not going to make the dressing room a happy place.  Such comments should be made in the Team meetings so that the message is loud and clear to the Batsmen.  To talk it out in the public does not display any man management skills of Dhoni. 

Experts talk about Indian Dressing room atmosphere being so good.  The Dressing room atmosphere of any winning team will be great.  How you pull up after a loss in the dressing room is the most important factor.  To vent it out in the public will only distance Dhoni from his players, including his close ones.

After this comment, I am doubtful if the dressing room atmosphere will be the same.  Dhoni has never answered or talked about his own batting or wicket-keeping performances.  If he is man-enough, as portrayed by the experts, he should have been critical about himself first.  His inability to play with the tail and his willingness to stay in the non-strikers end watching reckless shots being played at the other end are all issues that he needs to address.  In the same situation, Lakshman would have not only shielded the tail but would have constantly encouraged them to hold on.

The Adam Gilchrist of India is now playing more like Rahul Dravid.  His performance in the last year and a half has been very average.  It has been a dozen innings since he had his last half-century and around 26 innings since he hit a hundred.  His last hundred was scored in Jan 2010 against Bangladesh in Dhaka.  In his last 10 ODIs he has scored 12 n.o., 19 n.o, 34, 31, DNB, 5, 2, 5, 38 and 25. 

I don’t think the same scores would have been good enough for any other Batsman to remain in the Indian Side.  We have plenty of examples of good Indian batsmen shown the door after few poor performances.  Dhoni’s place in the Team is questionable.  He is first a player then a Captain.  As a player he has not performed consistently enough in Tests and ODI.  There is so much hype made about his Captaincy, Temperament and being cool headed.  We need the Captain of the Team to perform first as a Player.

If his mistakes in Team Selection, Bowling Changes and Fielding Placements continue, it would be difficult for Dhoni to continue as Captain.  If his batting also deserts him, then it won’t be long before Dhoni is sent back to Domestic Cricket to get back his rhythm.  Dada and Sehwag were sent back to regain form and they came back stronger.

This World Cup performance of India might decide the fate of Dhoni. For now, it seems the Honeymoon for Dhoni is almost over and the real testing life begins.