Dhoni's Conundrum

It is a well known fact that some cricketers are good at one form of the game and moderate at others. This is excluding those who excel in all forms of the game. And it is also well known that cricketers take pride in saying that "Test cricket is most important". Some of the best ODI players haven't replicated their ODI successes in tests. Ajay Jadeja & Micheal Bevan are two names right on top of my head. Both were exceptional in their limited overs career, but were found wanting in the test format. Jadeja couldnt handle quality bowling and his temperament was exposed in tests. Bevan's was moderate, but considering his ODI successes, it was always felt he didnt fit the bill in tests. In the opposite spectrum, we have hugely talented and successful Justin Langer who was considered a test specialist. Why? With his attacking nature and strong defense, he could have easily made it to the Australian ODI side, although in his limited ODI career he did only moderately well. And can anyone explain why England won't make Matt Prior a regular in their ODI squad? Dabbling around with Kieswetter and Buttler, they're losing out of Matt Prior's best days as batsman considering his strong show in tests.

Here we are talking about how players get stereotyped as Test specialists or ODI specialists or now lately T20 specialists. Ask David Warner what it took him to get the selectors to take a note of his T20 performances and give him a nod for tests and ODIs. In some cases the stereotyping could be fair too.

Is this stereotype limited to batsmen, bowlers and wicket keepers? Well, yeah. Adam Hollioake only captained England in ODIs while Mike Atherton captained in tests. This way back in mid 90s. This was more to get a young thinker for captain. Now, its slowly becoming common to have split captaincy for different forms of the game, considering there are 3 now. India did too, when Anil Kumble before his retirement, captained in tests and MS Dhoni lead the ODI, T20I sides. But Dhoni soon took over and displayed success in all three forms. But today, after 5 years and 5 months of his assuming limited overs captaincy and 4 years and 3 months since he took over as captain in all three forms, it's easy for a viewer to say which form of the game Dhoni likes to lead and play the most. No marks for guessing! ODIs.

Dhoni; we all know by now won us the inaugural WC T20 in 2007 when the nation was still grieving over the team's insipid first round exit in the 50 over WC earlier the same year. He became an instant hero. This followed by the Indian team's test successes, climb to no. 1 on the ICC Test ranking along with India's continued good run in ODIs, Dhoni was now called, not a tactician or a strategy maker, but a "street smart captain". With victory at the World Cup 2011, he had ensured India had achieved the pinnacle of each of the three formats of the game. That put together with the two consecutive IPL wins for Chennai Super Kings, the team he captains, Dhoni was unquestioned as captain. This stood true till June 2011. Between then and February 2012, Dhoni's reputation as a test captain had taken a mighty beating with 4-0 defeats in England followed by Australia. His street smart captaincy was now replaced by illogical or clueless moves. Players in the team seemed to just go through the motions. Differences between the captain and few players started to come out in the open.

In between all this, Dhoni with an almost different set of personnel fought it out against England in England and lost an ODI series, but with heads held high. A young team had fought hard. But the same England team visited India for 5 match ODI series. Dhoni's men blanked them 5-0. It was again a young side with part timers, swift fielders, big hitters, quick runners. It looked like a different ball game. Dhoni too seemed more interested, enthusiastic and well in the middle of the business. Almost the same team thrashed a resurgent West Indies 4-1 in India. Post the Australian test debacle, India lost the CB Series and Asia Cup. Both had strong performances by youngsters and Dhoni's involvement was felt. Dhoni the batsman flourished too. The same repeated itself when England visited India for a 4 match test series and went back victorious 2-1. Dhoni looked out of ideas in the last three tests after winning the first. Come ODIs against Pakistan and England, Dhoni became India's best batsman and suddenly his tricks started working and his ploys taking shape.

So, it's clear. His style of captaincy is more suited for ODIs. Anything wrong with that? No. Each batsman, bowler and even captain has his own set game that probably is suited for one format or the other. Case of former English opener Nick Knight used to baffle me. He looked every bit world class when he batted in ODIs. But once at the test stage he would struggle immensely.

MS Dhoni, the batsman is more suited for the ODI format more than tests or surprisingly even T20. ODIs allow him the time he needs to push for singles & doubles and flex his muscles whenever required. No doubting his temperament to play in tests or his ability to get going from the word go in T20s, the ease he is at while playing ODIs is evident from how he captains the side and his flurry of runs in the format. Even as captain one would see him less perturbed when opposition batsmen are having a go at the pacers, he'd know its a question of one wicket that would help the team peg back. His use of part timers like Yuvraj, Raina, Rohit Sharma has been interesting and has more often than not proved successful. Dhoni has shown confidence is many a youngster or even a struggling experienced campaigner. His confidence in Ravindra Jadeja is now proving worthwhile. Praveen Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin are all beneficiaries of Dhoni's confidence. But compare this with tests. India are currently a victim of massive talent exodus. Dravid followed by Laxman have retired and Tendulkar isn't going to be around for too long. Till all three were in the squad no one could've displaced them. After Kumble's retirement and Harbhajan's massive loss of form, India turned to Zaheer to be the team's bowling spearhead and mentor. Now, Zaheer's coming apart too. All of Dhoni's key personnel are falling apart. All the reason for him to look forlorn and clueless while opposition bowlers and batsmen make merry against India.

India would never want to loose Dhoni the ODI batsman and captain. Test side, going through a transition. Sehwag and Gambhir must be mandated to oversee that. While Dhoni's expertise and clear interest lies in ODIs why force him to lead the test side. There isn't currently another right man for the job.  Dhoni must be mandated to nurture the team for the 2015 World Cup in Australia & New Zealand. Hand the test captaincy over to Kohli. He is young, will take time to learn the tricks of the trade. With Dhoni, Sehwag and Gambhir as mentors, Kohli can grow as captain. And Dhoni must give away his Chennai Super Kings captaincy to Raina. What better than grooming another captain for a rainy day?

If Dhoni the batsman and wicket keeper still continues to impress in tests, India couldn't have asked for more.