Time To Put Dhoni In Charge?

By Gaurang
August 28 2008

When Dravid quit the hot seat that is Indian cricket Captaincy, people expected Mahendra Singh Dhoni to be next. But the selectors realized that with series against Pakistan and Australia coming up, it may be wise to split the job. They appointed Kumble to be the care-taker Test Captain until Dhoni was ready, giving the ODI captaincy to Dhoni. Dhoni is now ready for Test captaincy too.

There are several factors which make this a sensible move. Firstly, Kumble has had a wretched time of it in his primary role in 2008. He is averaging barely 3 wickets per Test and what is worse, he is picking them up at nearly fifty runs apiece, despite playing most of his Tests this year in the sub-continent. If India are to win against Australia, they will need Kumble at his bowling best. Relieving him of the captaincy may just be what he needs to concentrate on his bowling and find some form.

Secondly, the replacement keepers in the Test arena, Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel have been found wanting. Admittedly when the storied middle order of the Fab Four: Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman struggles against spin bowling, something they are acknowledged masters of (just ask Shane Warne) then there is not much that can be expected from the likes of Karthik and Patel. But nevertheless by scoring back to back 70s and leading the battle against the deadly duo of Murali and Mendis in the One-dayers, Dhoni has shown that what he may lack in technique he more than makes up in guts and temperament. He has shown the way for the likes of Suresh Raina to take on the Lankan spin maestros and put them off their stride. Additionally, his keeping despite the pressures of captaincy and being the leading batsman of the side has been better than that of Karthik and Patel. There is no way that he is not the automatic choice for the slot of wicket keeper in Tests as well as long as he is available for selection.

This brings up the final point, the somewhat controversial decision Dhoni made to skip the Test series in Lanka. This can be seen in two very different ways. One way to look at it was that it was a selfish decision, where Dhoni took time off from representing his country in the highest form of the game. There was no doubt that he deserved a break, as no Indian player has played more matches for India, in all formats of the game, Tests, ODIs and Twenty20s, over the past year and more, than Dhoni. The only question was about the timing. His detractors point out that, if all he wanted was a break, he could have rested during the basically meaningless Kitply tri-series and during the non-essential games of the much more important Asia Cup. But people often misunderstand the type of break a player needs. It is not so much a physical, as much as a mental break that is required. Cricket is after all not the most demanding of sports athletically, even though the position of wicket-keeper, is one of the more high-demand ones athletically. What Dhoni needed was a complete “Chill Out” to rejuvenate not just body but also soul.

Additionally even this decision to take a break can be argued to be a selfless one. Dhoni is the captain in the ODIs, and backing out of ODIs to rest would have been highly unusual and un-professional. He felt obliged to his team, and led from the front in ODIs. His batting average is a whopping 15 runs higher when he is also the Captain. However in Tests, he was simply the wicket-keeper for the side. His input was no doubt valuable, but the Test side has lots of veterans, besides the Captain himself to contribute. His excusing himself from the team, was giving his understudies, Karthik and Patel a golden chance to cement their places and possibly knock him out of the team. This is something that few would have allowed, unless they were quite secure in their self-belief, and genuinely had the interest of the team in mind. A tired and jaded Dhoni may have reasoned that fresher minds and bodies behind the wickets would have helped India win the series. That Karthik and Patel didn’t grab the opportunity and India failed to win the series, doesn’t change that argument.

And a rested Dhoni has returned with a vengeance and has led India from the front as they made history winning a bilateral ODI series in Lanka for the first time. Though not as long in coming, and probably not as emotional as the first ever bilateral series win in Pakistan under Ganguly nearly five years ago, it is nonetheless very significant. That win in Pakistan was the pinnacle of Ganguly’s captaincy. The even more encouraging thing about what Dhoni has achieved is that this promises to be simply a stage on the way to a much higher pinnacle in his captaincy.

The argument that India needs the experience of Kumble to captain against the soon to be visiting Australians no longer holds water. The Australians are as ruthless a cricket team as there is in cricket today, and India needs the "mooh pe Ram, bugal mein churi" or what in English translates to “smile on the lip, dagger at the ready” type of leadership that Dhoni brings to what is likely going to be a highly-charged street-fight against Ricky Ponting and his gang.