Not so long ago a man from Jharkhand scored 148* against visitors in Vizag and few months later scored 183 against Emerald Isle. Since then he scored more gems at # 3 in ODIs. He was hailed as next big man of Indian cricket. He could do no wrong. And he did nothing. He was later unexpectedly appointed captain of T20 team for an event which found no takers in BCCI. Unfortunately, India won it. Time turned such that few days later he was ODI captain too. He lost his 1st series as captain to Aus, but later avenged it by winning CB series down under.
And he kept winning and winning. Consistently. Many taboos were broken. First time wins in many impossible destinations viz SL, Aus and NZ. He was then appointed Test skipper too. He won 5 games out of 7. Against Australia, England, New Zealand. Minnows ? Nah.
During this time he kept shuffling himself as a floater in the batting order. Aim not to prove his batting talent, but to win the games for country. And he did. He was endorsed by the greats of Indian cricket. He is no great technician. He has no flair, he has some of awkward shots, but they fetch runs. They fetch victories, so how does it matter if he is at # 3 or #6. Some say he is no good for # 3. He should bat lower the order. There is a basic rule which suggests that the aggressive batsmen should get more overs to play so that they could score more runs in less balls and thus help the "team".
The guy in focus is MS Dhoni. A loss in inconsequential warm up game to T20 world cup ended the honeymoon for MS. A man who before IPl could do nothing wrong, now stands in a witness box to answer the critics why he promoted himself to # 3. Man to man basis, he is a better batsman than the regular # 3 in T20s -- Raina boy. So what if he had been failure yesterday? All this talk wouldnt have arose if he had scored runs and hadnt got out to the awkward stumping (read it somewhere) to Vettori boy and McCullum uncle.
Its a fashion in Indian cricket following, we have to have somebody to criticise and hang to the sword. In ODIs till this day it were Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag and Dravid, Ganguly in past. Kumble, Fab Four in Tests adding Kumble. So in T20s it has to be the captain.
I would like to ask the critics of MS esp those from CSK land who have been needlessly critical of this man for ignoring sons of soil and prefering Gonys and Patels, to excersise restraint. If he wins another title for India, then its going to be egg on the face.
And he kept winning and winning. Consistently. Many taboos were broken. First time wins in many impossible destinations viz SL, Aus and NZ. He was then appointed Test skipper too. He won 5 games out of 7. Against Australia, England, New Zealand. Minnows ? Nah.
During this time he kept shuffling himself as a floater in the batting order. Aim not to prove his batting talent, but to win the games for country. And he did. He was endorsed by the greats of Indian cricket. He is no great technician. He has no flair, he has some of awkward shots, but they fetch runs. They fetch victories, so how does it matter if he is at # 3 or #6. Some say he is no good for # 3. He should bat lower the order. There is a basic rule which suggests that the aggressive batsmen should get more overs to play so that they could score more runs in less balls and thus help the "team".
The guy in focus is MS Dhoni. A loss in inconsequential warm up game to T20 world cup ended the honeymoon for MS. A man who before IPl could do nothing wrong, now stands in a witness box to answer the critics why he promoted himself to # 3. Man to man basis, he is a better batsman than the regular # 3 in T20s -- Raina boy. So what if he had been failure yesterday? All this talk wouldnt have arose if he had scored runs and hadnt got out to the awkward stumping (read it somewhere) to Vettori boy and McCullum uncle.
Its a fashion in Indian cricket following, we have to have somebody to criticise and hang to the sword. In ODIs till this day it were Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag and Dravid, Ganguly in past. Kumble, Fab Four in Tests adding Kumble. So in T20s it has to be the captain.
I would like to ask the critics of MS esp those from CSK land who have been needlessly critical of this man for ignoring sons of soil and prefering Gonys and Patels, to excersise restraint. If he wins another title for India, then its going to be egg on the face.
9 Perspectives:
Not sure if you are referring to what I wrote on my blog, but my criticism about Dhoni is relevant even if he had succeeded or failed in that particular innings.
As a captain, he has to bring stability to each person's role in the team. By promoting himself, he reduces the responsibility felt by other team members.
If he wants, he can bat at #3 always. But what he shouldn't do is get the team into a position where he is the one winning all the matches for India. We need all the team members performing for India, not Dhoni.
Krish, thanks for dropping bi. But i didnt read your blog so far. Would do so. This was for few critics which i encountered during iPL on other blogs.
I feel and everybody say a captain should lead from front. and thats what he does. After Sehwag and Yuvraj, he is the most experienced batter in India team, so he should bat at higher position.
Why do you feel he is reducing the responsibility of other team members? did you see how Sharma got out ? so casually ? thats what it is . when he plays for India, he is indifferent, when he played for DC he was in diff league.
Did Pathan Y deliver? He failed. Its the responsibilities of others too to step up and deliver. And imo, i dont think by promoting himself he is doing anything bad.
criticism should be fair and based on facts.
sam, not just the kiwi game, but thru the ipl some of msd's calls were questionable - no doubt they jarred more when csk lost. tossing around of badri, esp down the order was off.
If MSD earned the praise, he's now also earned the finger raise!
btw good read!
Sam, I agree with some of what you say. Dhoni probably belongs higher up in the order. But my main point is that he himself doesn't quite know where he belongs.
Also as a captain, his long-term goal should be to promote people to take more responsibility, not do it for them. He can win a few matches by himself today, but he has to teach the rest of the players to do so also.
MSD might have the best interests of the team in mind when he promotes himself up and down the order, but sometimes I feel he thinks a tad too highly of his batting abilities.
He is clearly ugly with his strokes when he tries to go for big hits. So much so that the big hits happen far too seldom for him to be winning matches.
When he grafts around for singles, his way of reaching out for the ball and pushing it into gaps is ungainly, and does not pay off all the time. In short he wastes more balls than he should be doing.
In this IPL CSK clearly lost a few matches due to his inability with the bat. I am all for his captaincy, but I have to say I am certainly not a fan of his batting. And if he continues to pick and choose his batting positions, his captaincy record might take a beating.
MSD at 3 cannot be a solution for Rohit's and YP's failings.
Rohit - given a slot and a security of few matches on the trot has delivered. In CB series Australia for instance.
Yousuf as the last specialist may not be the best idea. If he delivered for Warne and not for India, it is not Yousuf who should be doing the thinking, but the think-tank on how best to utilise him.
MSD is clearly best captain we have had in getting people to perform and of course in results. But that does not qualify him for No 3 automatically.
Any batsman would say his second season is more difficult than his first.
Not suggesting that the 148 was a fluke - but only suggesting that bowlers have perhaps learnt to bowl better lines to him (considering his top hand is virually absent, and hence the drives on the offside).Perhaps Dhoni also realised that he is not going to get quick runs whenever he wants them and tailored his game into a Bevan like mode. Which is just fine for ODIs. But sub 100strike rates are not on in T2Os (IPL or otherwise)
While I like to watch VVS bat, Chanderpaul would do fine as long as he helps win matches. So I am not one for aesthetic pleasure out of MSD's batting. While it works for the team so be it. For CSK it dint work. For Team India it may or may not. The World Cup is too big a stage to experiment. I would have said this even if MSD had got a decent knock in the warm up.
Not criticism for the sake of it but observations made having seen MSD right from the beginning.
Cheers
I think, Sam, countering the specific arguemnts we have made against Dhoni would make more effective than merely saying people are out to defame Dhoni.
I find this perplexing - you always attack the commenter, not the comment. Why?
For your benefit, all Dhoni detractors seem to have summarised their specific criticism of Dhoni in this space. Lucky you, care to reply point by point?
(Before signing off, even if Dhoni wins a 100 WC's, the fact remains he showed scant respect for CSK local talent, and didnt lead them effectively, He still says in IPL I got limited talent while in national setup, I get unlimted talent so I am happy. Eh? Did Kumble get better talent than Dhoni? How did he perform as captain? This attitude clearly doesnt work for CSK. Let him captain India - these comments clearly show that he is not capable of leading CSK to glory. To say that Dhoni won WC for India or is going to win WC with India doesnt absolve him of his poor show for CSK. Dont know why this is hard to understand.
Raj, there is a special post for you dude. and i feel your comments are against me and not the posts i make.
Its baffling for me to see u give more weigtage to a franchisee based tournament than a country based tournament captaincy.
and find me a talent in chennai super kings team based in chennai and prove they had guts but they were biased by a eastern captain..i wud happily buy your point.
u have grudge against MS cos he didnt win u a IPL. oodi baba.
and abt comment on me ? i just asked to restrain...where was the attack ?
and didnt i put up facts to prove dhoni is best effective at 3 than 5 or 6. 183, 148, 91, 96 are some of his innings...go figure
K, agreed MS doesnt have best of batting techniques, but he has delivered in both tests and odis, thats what matters. ugly or surreal doesnt matter.
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