The Midas touch gone kaput

The Midas touch gone kaput

Indian captain M.S. Dhoni’s test captaincy leaves a lot to be desired,
and it’s time some critical decisions were taken

Picture courtesy: Blnguyen (Wikimedia Commons)

By Rutvick Mehta

BANGALORE (Feb. 2)—As a young cricketer learning the art of the game, I was always taught by my coaches that cricket is all about scoring runs and taking wickets. When you have the bat in your hand, your job is to score runs and when you’re on the field, your job is to take wickets. This is the golden rule of the game. Yet it is this simple rule that M.S. Dhoni quite often seems to forget.

This rule becomes even more important in test cricket, where there is no pressure of scoring runs quickly. As a captain, if you fall into the trap of looking to contain runs, you’re more likely to end up on the losing side. And this is precisely what Dhoni is doing.

Dhoni has this inexplicable habit of spreading the field out very early into the game. As soon as he senses a small partnership building, he orders his fielders to march out. While this strategy can work in ODIs and T20s, it is criminal in test cricket.

Take a recent example from the India-Australia series. During the second test match at Sydney, Australia were down in the dumps at 37 for 3. Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke walked in and started hitting a couple of boundaries. The pitch still had something in it for the bowlers and Australia were still struggling in terms of the scorecard. An edge or a mistimed shot was all that was needed.

However, there were not many fielders near the batsmen to make use of it. A couple of aggressive shots were enough to make Dhoni revert to his habit again—of spreading the field too much too soon. This mindset by Dhoni also explains India’s disability to knock off the tail in the recent past, a problem which was rarely encountered by Indian captains in the past.

The ‘best bet,’ not the best

Many experts believe that Dhoni is still India’s best bet as captain.

However, I have always believed that Dhoni is a very mediocre captain. As a test captain, he got a ready-made team which did not need much tinkering. The foundation of the team was laid by his predecessors and he had to just carry the team forward. But now that the seniors in the team are nearing the end of their tenures and the greatness of the team is slowly fizzing out, Dhoni’s shortcomings as a captain are glaring out for all to see.

India has done well only at home, which is due to the sheer strength of our batting and the spinner-friendly pitches on offer here. And in such conditions, Dhoni’s flaws as a captain remain hidden.

Dhoni’s record as a test captain is poor overseas. He has won just five tests out of the 20 played outside India, three of them coming against weaker teams like Bangladesh, West Indies and New Zealand.

He is perceived as being a very coolheaded captain who does not get overly perturbed by situations around him. However, this can also be looked upon as being laid-back and waiting for things to happen.

He is more a reactive captain than a proactive captain. He rarely walks up to a bowler and talks to him, which is such an important job as a captain. As former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram told dawn.com: “You only have to look at the Indian bowlers [in Australia] to realize it. They get hit around, they are lost, but nobody talks to them."

Khan: A bold yet sensible option

It is pretty clear to me that Dhoni has to depart as India’s test captain. So who should replace him?

I personally think Zaheer Khan can be made India’s test captain for a couple of years till we find a young leader to take things forward. Khan, as often said by Dhoni, is the bowling captain of the team. He plays a big role in making strategies, setting the fields, making bowling changes and motivating his younger counterparts.

Picture courtesy: Harrias (Wikimedia Commons)

More importantly, he is a very aggressive bloke by nature and has the “give it back to them” attitude—something that was imbibed into the team by Sourav Ganguly but somehow seems to be lost now. It is very important to get this attitude, body language and passion back into the team, and Khan is the right man for it. He has a very sharp cricketing mind, which is evident in his bowling.

The only question with giving the test captaincy to Khan is his fitness. The solution lies in making sure that he plays only test cricket for the next couple of years.
The Board of Control For Cricket in India should ensure that he does not play any unnecessary ODIs and T20s. If given an option, I am sure Khan would be honored to lead the test team and play just one format to preserve his fitness.

There is no question that Indian cricket is at its lowest ebb at present. Being
whitewashed in two major test series is shocking to say the least. Not all the blame can be put on the seniors and the fact that they are in the twilight of their careers.

Dhoni’s test captaincy has been exposed in the past year or so, and his flaws are out in the open. Indian cricket needs some bold decisions rather than just cosmetic changes. Removing Dhoni would be one of them. Khan is my man to lead the test team for the next couple of years.

The Midas touch, indeed, is lost. The aggressive “in your face” attitude should be blooded again.