Indian cricket is in its darkest hour. The Test team, boasting of legends like Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Zaheer Khan, has crashed to its 7th consecutive defeat overseas. Before the series Down Under began, Dravid said that the seniors in the squad had arrivd in Australia yet again as”creaking and older terminators – but helpfully more effective.” He couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
The Indians have failed miserably & quite obviously, the tactical nous and man management skills of the captain , Mahendra Singh Dhoni, have been called into question. His field placements, choice of bowlers (Vinay Kumar in a Test ? Oh dear !) & his inability to deliver knock out punches when India has been ahead have drawn public ire.
This man is the first captain in history to win the World T20 World Cup ( South Africa , 2007), Champions League T20 (South Africa, 2010), IPL (2010 & 2011), Worlds No 1 test Ranking (2009-2011) and the big daddy of them all – the 50 Over World Cup which was won a few kilometers away from my house on April 2nd 2011. But now, he is quite evidently, struggling. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for Dhoni and he now finds himself banned for the Test in Adelaide.
This “Jewel from Jharkhand” has been a great servant and ambassador for Indian cricket. He is probably India’s best ODI batsman at the moment and he is still incredibly fit. This makes him a mean machine in limited overs encounters. But once the coloured clothing is traded in for the more traditional white flannels, MSD’s Midas touch seems to desert him. By his own admission, his batting has been of poor quality. His glove-work is also not up there with the best. Perhaps the travails of leading the Indian Cricket Team are affecting his game, like how the stress of captaincy reduced Sourav Ganguly to a walking wicket for a few years ( 2001-2005 barring 2003 World Cup).
Dhoni needs to introspect deeply & find within himself the strength and conviction that the team is sorely missing. As a leader, he can inspire his troops and create the fire in their bellies needed to win abroad.
But the big question to be asked is : Does Dhoni still have it in him to conjure up more historic victories for an adoring public back home ? Or, like the petroleum reserves of the world, has he run out of steam ? Indeed, does the man who sealed the World Cup with a six have anything left in the tank ? Judging by how much he seems to have aged in the past 6 months, our Captain Cool is now running on empty. We need a new captain to lead us into the light.
My Suggestion:
Appoint a new Test Captain. Perhaps having Sehwag lead the team in Tests might be the best way forward. The responsibility of leadership may produce the best in him. His highest ODI score of 219* came when he was skipper. Make Virat Kohli his deputy so that a proper succession plan is in order. Kohli has been the captain of India U19 Team and also of the glamorous RCB.
Retain Dhoni as a player in the Test team, subject to form and performance. Afterall, Dinesh Kartik & W.Saha are knocking on the door not too far behind. However, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is still the real deal in ODIs and T20Is, and there is none better in the country for the skippers job.