Time's up for Captain Cool?
Dhoni's talent notwithstanding it's always his cricketing acumen that separated him from the rest. Years ago when no one was willing to take charge in the final over against the West Indies in the final of the Hero Cup it was Sachin Tendulkar who simply ended captain Azharuddin's predicament by snatching the ball and delivering those six magical balls.
Things were different with Dhoni. Here was a captain who didn't think twice and just threw the ball in Joginder Sharma for the last over in the final of the T-20 World Cup. Dressing room grapevine suggests that when Sehwag was throwing a tantrum too many Dhoni dropped him and got Yusuf Pathan instead to open for India in the same high-octane final.
Dhoni's out-of-the-box thinking has done the team good and while they may look like shrewd cricketing decisions, his choices, in retrospect, come across as lucky breaks. And the thing with luck is that it usually tends to run out. With six straight overseas Test defeats everything about Dhoni seems wrong. The only question bigger than Dhoni's immediate future as the Test captain is that if not Dhoni then who? The only worth contender is Virender Sehwag and if newspapers reports are to be believed then it seems like he's already started knocking on the door.
Would axing MSD as the Test captain be a tad too harsh? There have been equally impassioned arguments from both sides but the only thing that seems to be working in Dhoni's favour is that he still seems to be the best man to lead. Kapil Dev is of the opinion that Dhoni can only be blamed so much if the big guns--Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman along with Sehwag--aren't firing from all cylinders. But the counter argument is that isn't it up to the captain then to marshal his resources better? More than anything Dhoni's strange decisions like changing bowlers who are effective midway, or playing too defensive is setting the platform for disasters, which have been far too many in the recent past.
There comes a time in every captain's tenure when the future looks extremely bleak and this is that hour for Dhoni, the Test captain. Dhoni's fabled out-of-the-box thinking seems to have gotten into a box within a box and seems to be operating from there. As a stand-in captain Sehwag has had a good record and who knows the swagger that instills fear in the every opposition bowler would be more controlled once greater responsibility rests on his shoulders. If Sourav Ganguly came out all guns blazing and Dhoni like Dravid and Anil Kumble showed more restraint than valor, Sehwag would perhaps infuse Dhoni's one-day enthusiasm in the five-day format better than the man himself. If nothing else Sehwag might stop throwing his wicket around and that by itself might turn the tide for India.
I am a Delhi-based author who writes for Buzzintown.com as part of Buzz Bureau team. To know about IPL 2012 teams or IPL T20 Schedule please visit Buzzintown.com
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