Under-fire MS Dhoni might lose Test captaincy

[Imran Khan]

MS Dhoni might lose Test captaincy
Indranil Basu, TNN | Jan 29, 2012, 01.23AM IST

Tendulkar|Rahul Dravid|MS Dhoni|India in Australia 2011-12|BCCI
MS Dhoni might lose Test captaincy
Indian captain MS Dhoni (left) together with his teammates stand in the field after they were defeated by Australia in the fourth Test match in Adelaide, Australia. (AP Photo)
NEW DELHI: India's whitewash in Australia - the second in a row overseas for the cricket team - has triggered a big debate in the cricket establishment, throwing up several ideas, some radical, many cosmetic.

An idea finding favour with the BCCI bosses is that MS Dhoni should be stripped of Test captaincy. The current front runner for the captain's position is Virender Sehwag.

This doesn't mean Dhoni would be stripped of all captaincy - he's expected to remain captain for the limited-overs versions of the game, ODI and T20.

For Test matches, though, his captaincy has been found wanting. Meanwhile, Sehwag has made plain that he hasn't got his due (and has begun to view Dhoni as the reason for that) and the cricket bosses think that perhaps he should be given a chance. It's another matter that Sehwag's record as captain, either of India or of Delhi Daredevils, hasn't been great.

While all the senior players, including VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, have clarified that they won't be retiring from cricket as yet, it doesn't mean that both or either will be selected to play Tests.

Did 'ego clash' with Sehwag affect MSD?

However, what is really disturbing is the talk of "an ego clash" between Dhoni and Sehwag. It's said that this affected Dhoni's captaincy and he couldn't quite assert his authority with Sehwag and a few others.

Dhoni also feels that Sehwag could have done better in Australia if had shown greater discipline while batting. The authorities are examining to what extent this dissension within the team contributed to its debacle in Australia.

Senior players like Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid or Laxman don't have had a problem playing under Dhoni (or under Sehwag, for that matter), but Sehwag has apparently made his opinions clear: he doesn't like Dhoni's way of handling things, be it in selecting the playing XI, field placements during Test matches or the issue of bringing in younger players. He feels that his views have not been heard.

Dhoni's emotional outburst that he was contemplating quitting Tests after 2013 has also not gone down well with BCCI bosses. "There is no point talking about 2013 in the middle of a Test series," an official said.

Incidentally, two senior pros who are under pressure to quit, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, may have decide not to call it a day yet but BCCI officials say that it's apparent that both are past their prime, and it would be wise to blood some youngsters in their place.

The names of Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Cheteshwar Pujara were mentioned in this context. It was also said that once Yuvraj Singh gets fit to play, he will be an "automatic choice".

Times View

Changing the Test captain or dropping a couple of seniors may be part of the solution to the crisis facing Indian cricket. But this isn't enough.

The rot is much more systemic and cannot be dealt with by mere changes in personnel in the playing XI. What is needed is a thorough, uncompromising review of a whole range of issues including the structure of domestic cricket, the cricket board and the selection panel.

Such an honest examination, conducted by professionals, can throw up more meaningful solutions. The board must then have the courage to act on those.

Else, we could see couple of seasons of success at home followed by another round of breast beating after a mauling on foreign soil.

MS Dhoni might lose Test captaincy - The Times of India

 

[Donatello]

It's not Dhoni's fault. I mean, a captain doesn't teach players like Sachin, V.V.S.Laxman, Dravid, Sehwag how to play. Did they just forget that? They came into Indian team because of how individually they could play and get accolades. But somehow they forgot how to bat.

The coach, team manager, BCCI are to be blamed.

 

[venu309]

By the way the Indian cricket team has been playing of late, they deserve a standing ovation from my tallest finger!

 

[Areesh]

There is no need to replace dhoni for the test team. He is a good captain. What can he do if the seniors like Sachin, Dravid and Laxman are not performing in the team?

 

[void_0in]

There is no need to replace dhoni for the test team. He is a good captain. What can he do if the seniors like Sachin, Dravid and Laxman are not performing in the team?

million dollar question is he himself performing ?

 

[janon]

There is no need to replace dhoni for the test team. He is a good captain. What can he do if the seniors like Sachin, Dravid and Laxman are not performing in the team?

Well the captaincy has been terrible too. Of course, India couldn't have won even if the captaincy was good, because the batsmen didn't bat well, and bowlers didn't bowl well and fielders didn't field well.

 

[Areesh]

million dollar question is he himself performing ?

He came to bat in those conditions where Indian were 5-6 wickets down with a very small total on the board. He did scored a one or two good innings but it is the top order who should be blamed for all the mishap. The seniors ad particularly Dravid and Laxman were just pathetic. Dhoni didn't get the support from the team.

And with whom you are going to replace Dhoni with?

---------- Post added at 10:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:42 AM ----------

Well the captaincy has been terrible too. Of course, India couldn't have won even if the captaincy was good, because the batsmen didn't bat well, and bowlers didn't bowl well and fielders didn't field well.

Exactly. There were some issue with his captaincy but still he can't be blamed for all the mishap. It was the top order which failed India. And seriously speaking I don't think India have a better choice than Dhoni as a captain of test team. Sehwag showed he is just a pathetic captain after he played that stupid innings of 60+ runs in second innings. In fact sehwag shouldn't be in the test team as well. He is more suited for one day and T20.

 

[janon]

Exactly. There were some issue with his captaincy but still he can't be blamed for all the mishap. It was the top order which failed India. And seriously speaking I don't think India have a better choice than Dhoni as a captain of test team. Sehwag showed he is just a pathetic captain after he played that stupid innings of 60+ runs in second innings. In fact sehwag shouldn't be in the test team as well. He is more suited for one day and T20.

I agree that there isn't much of a choice regarding captaincy, and that is only a cosmetic change anyway. I disagree with your views on Sehwag though - although from his style he may appear to be more suited to ODIs, he has actually been much more succesful in the test arena than ODIs. Check out his batting averages in both formats to see what I'm talking about. Despite his swashbuckling style, he has a 50+ average in tests, and the only reason India has won a lot of tests in the past few years has been because of him. As far as I can remember, over the past few years India hasn't won tests that Sehwag hasn't scored well in. And whenever he gets going, he tends to make HUGE scores in tests - which goes against the notion that he isn't suitable as a test player. After all, he is India's only triple centurion, and he did it twice - and nearly a third time. In fact it is in ODIs that he hasn't lived up to his potential. It may sound counter intuitive given his batting temperament, but I think statistics and results vindicate my point.

 

[Mani2020]

Dhoni is not suited for test captaincy as simple as that ...many will give excuses that the team didn't perform so what can a captain do in such situation ....but think about it when a captain himself is not performing how can he penalize his players for the same reason?

He is a laid back kind of character ...he is overly calm ....in conditions like aus and aggressive teams like them a captain needs to be pro-active and on his toes all the time which dhoni clearly lagged , he was just waiting for the things to happen rather then trying to make things happen

And more humiliating is that india didn't lost all 4 matches from a aus team that was filled with great players like mgrath, warne,hayden, gilchrist etc but they lost to a team who was beaten up by even NZ and was bundled up by SA on 42 runs now that is real humiliation

Many indian rate dhoni as the best captain indian team ever had but for me gangualy was much better than him..... may be not the best like waugh or ponting but still was a good captain

@Areesh
Dhoni didnt score because he was coming when india was quickly 4-5 wickets down is not an excuse .... Great players are those who can play under pressure ....Inzi was one ...during his captaincy he use to come and play a gem so often when Pak most of the time use to be on 10-3 so that never effected his performance

another example form the current series is clarke and ponting ... except from one innings aus openers and one down batsman i.e marsh always failed and most of the times aus was 50-3 or 30-3 but then they came and flourished ....

Apart from that dhoni has a very poor record in aus against them ....he averages not more than 20 ...his highest score is 57 and before that it was somewhere around 30 ...in last series of 2008 he was also playing...he was not captain then....india was also getting good starts and batting performances and he was coming at comfortable positions then what happened to him then? he then also didnt score , its lot to do with his un-orthodox technique that is not suitable in those situations