Aabhas Sharma identifies the weak spots in his captaincy in Test matches outside India.
In less than a year, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has gone from being “Captain Courageous” to “Captain Disastrous”. Cricket fans are relieved he is not playing the fourth Test against Australia which begins on Tuesday at Adelaide. The honeymoon is over. Why has this happened? Here’s the diagnosis.
Too defensive
Dhoni’s defensive tactics in Test matches are quite a contrast to his aggression in limited-over matches. Former Australian batsman Mark Waugh has criticised him on this tour by saying that “he waits for the opposition to make mistakes”. While that is up for debate, it is certain that Dhoni at times lets the initiative slip through his fingers. For example, in the second innings of the first Test against Australia in Melbourne, he had the opposition on the mat at 27-4. The batsmen (Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting) scored a few runs and he spread the field! This eased the pressure on the Australians who built their innings by scoring easy ones and twos.
It is something he did with alarming regularity in England as well. Even when the tail is exposed, he tends to be defensive with his field positions and throws away the advantage. Ironically, it is not the case in the shorter format of the game. He takes more risks there — like the decision to promote himself ahead of in-form Yuvraj Singh in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka — and his decisions are more proactive. But in Test cricket, he goes into a shell, which has caused the team dearly on more than a couple of occasions. When the situation demands him to be aggressive, Dhoni adopts the conservative route. In the Melbourne Test, Mike Hussey, who was under tremendous pressure because of his form, was struggling when James Pattison came in to bat at number 10. Rather than attack them, Dhoni spread the field and let Australia score at least 60 more runs. Former Australian captain Ian Chappell rightly says: “Good captaincy is like pornography…hard to describe but you know it when you see it.”
The weakest Australian side of the last 25 years is all set to beat India 4-0 this series. Even if India did become the number one Test team in the world last year, there are no recent overseas series wins, barring one against West Indies and another against New Zealand. Not even in Sri Lanka. And at home, India regularly beat the opposition irrespective of the captain. It did so even under Mohammad Azharuddin, one of the most defensive captains of all times.
Uninspiring performance
It would be tempting to conclude that there are no bad players in a losing side, only bad captains. As much as captains say that their form doesn’t get affected by captaincy, it is a fact that even the best crumble under it. Mark Taylor, Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar — all had dips in form while leading their teams. Dhoni is no stranger to this club either. In the last 27 Test matches which he has captained, he has just one 100 against his name, that too at home against West Indies. His average overseas is 33.67 and he has scored only one Test hundred away from home — that too came on the subcontinent. In Australia, his batting average is 17, in England it is 39 and in South Africa it is 31.
Dhoni’s batting style, which at best can be described as unorthodox, doesn’t work in conditions where the pitch favours the bowlers. And a captain has to lead by example when the team isn’t doing well. Dhoni has not been able to meet that challenge and continues to struggle with the bat. His record in one-day internationals as batsman-captain is pretty good. For someone who comes in late in the order, an average of 48 is excellent. Perhaps, that’s why his captaincy doesn’t get that badly affected in the shorter format of the game. Even his wicket-keeping has come under the scanner. There’s probably an argument on whether wicket-keepers make good captains. In Test cricket, captaincy requires a greater level of concentration, so it’s quite possible that Dhoni gets distracted behind the stumps. Even Adam Gilchrist admitted that his performance was affected when he captained Australia in a few Test matches. The converse could also be true: does Dhoni’s concentration as the wicket-keeper keep him from strategising for the match?
No eye for talent
When Sourav Ganguly was the captain, there was a stream of youngsters who came through and established themselves in the team. Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh — all came when Ganguly was captain. Even when the critics were against them, Ganguly backed them to the hilt and reaped dividends. Under Dhoni, there hasn’t been a single cricketer who has played more than 10 Test matches and established himself. Sixteen players have made their debuts in Test cricket under Dhoni and not even one has cemented his place in the Test team. Dhoni hasn’t been able to nurture talent with much success. He has persisted with Suresh Raina and backed him in limited-over matches. Raina, however, has proved an unmitigated disaster in Tests. It is difficult to find a Test player who has been Dhoni’s find. Rohit Sharma and Chiteshwar Pujara, undoubtedly the best young batting talent in the country, have been cooling their heels on the sidelines for a while now. Unless the captain shows confidence, they are unlikely to make it big in international cricket.
Unimaginative
When things haven’t been going India’s way, Dhoni seems to run out of ideas. His body language — along with that of the team — has been negative. When the time has come for taking big decisions, he has backed out. Perhaps he should have fought for the inclusion of Harbhajan Singh who was out of form, yet has a good record against Australia. And when Zaheer Khan got injured midway through the England tour, R P Singh was his replacement. Singh had last played a Test match in 2008 — that too in Kanpur — and was clearly out of shape. Still, Dhoni and the selectors picked him rather than give a chance to a youngster like Varun Aaron or the much ridiculed yet more experienced Munaf Patel.
For that matter, in the third Test against Australia in Perth, picking R Vinay Kumar ahead of R Ashwin — the second-most economical bowler and the second highest run-getter in the series — was a conventional decision. The Perth wicket does offer pace and bounce but did Vinay Kumar have it in him to exploit that condition? Clearly not. Yet Dhoni went with conventional wisdom and didn’t take a bold decision. Not that India would have won the Test match but it would have given variety to the bowling attack and inspired more confidence in Ashwin.
Have time and luck finally run out for India’s captain cool? Perhaps they have. But with no other viable alternative in place, it seems like he will continue to be at the helm of affairs. Or maybe it is time for Indian cricket to have separate captains for different formats.
