by Kartik Kannan

When Dhoni was handed over the reigns of captaincy for the ODI team, one was wondering, whether it came a bit too early for him. Sometimes individual brilliance and managing a team, don’t really gel together. Sachin Tendulkar was one such example, who in spite of being a genius, couldn’t juggle captaincy and his individual talent. They say a captain is only as good as the team, and with Dhoni, the adage proved pretty true at least so far in the shorter versions of the game with immense success in the T20 world cup, Commonwealth Bank series, and leading Chennai Super Kings to the finals of the IPL.

One may be tempted to ask the question, now what is it that sets Dhoni apart from other Indian captains? Dhoni, has gone on to establish ‘his’ team –the ‘D-company’ (nothing to do with the Underworld) of core players whom he feels would be instrumental in the build up to the next world cup. He runs his team with the fervour of a professional company, by demanding only commitment and by the way he handles whatever is there at his disposal to make men out of a bunch of rookie boys. It is not that often that a captain goes on foreign shores with the ‘Fab 4’ of Indian cricket not being there in the team. Though it did leave a huge void, during the World Twenty20 and CB series, Dhoni felt that this was ideally the best time for fringe players to make their presence felt and that’s exactly what happened with youngsters putting on a sterling performance.

In ODI’s Dhoni averaged 27 with the bat in the 86 matches he played before getting captaincy. In the 31 matches as a captain, Dhoni averages 39 as a captain. So with added responsibilities, Dhoni’s rise as a batsman is also visible. Unlike former captains, Dhoni’s game hasn’t been affected due to captaincy. Dhoni has led his team to 6 finals in 6 straight tournaments. He has won 3 finals and lost 2 close finals, with one final being a meek surrender against the vitamin “M” of the Lankans- Mendis and Murali.

Dhoni as a captain is not so concerned about the flak he would face, if he were to take a wrong decision. It takes guts to give the final deciding over of a cup final to a little known Joginder Sharma. That was a master coup, as India went on to win the game four balls later. Another instance of his vision for the long term was to give Yuvraj Singh an extended run of selection, when Yuvraj found it hard to get wood on leather on the seamy Australian pitches. Yuvraj reposed his faith in Dhoni, by pulling India out of the woods in a league match against Sri Lanka with a valuable 70 at Adelaide. We’ve known former Indian captains to sometimes look at repercussions and play safe in Test matches so as to avoid losing. Dhoni, as a Test captain, would bring in more aggression and common sense to the table and that could just see a new resurgence in the way India plays Test cricket.

Dhoni has been able to mould a bunch of players to step into the shoes of the ‘fab four’ with certain alacrity that he deserves to be given a run for Test cricket. What India needs is fresh thinking with an outlook to the future. Dhoni at the helm would mean a new face of aggressive India. Dhoni’s aggression and cricketing acumen borders on practicality and gut feel, irrespective of the pressure. With Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble as captains, we found that they were able to mould the team to the extent that India started winning Test matches abroad, and even the odd series abroad. Now India need a team and a captain that has the commitment to see India in a new aggressive role, that sees them following Steve Waugh’s pet adage, “We Play to Win”.
It could be a matter of time before we see Dhoni taking over the reigns from Kumble.298407