while everybody is taking sides either with kp or ecb... one thing with which everyone seems to agree is that the kp-gate could have been managed better...behind closed doors...sans selective leaks...
since kp-gate is flooded with inane articles...for...against...i don't want to waste much time in adding my two cents...
having said that...however...i particularly liked shane warne's views that a parent body and captain should be capable enough to manage different personalities...characters...
that its not important to be liked by team mates...as every player in the team is there to do a job...and its the job of management to work around players to achieve team goals...
this is where strauss and ecb have failed in my view...
we too have a case here that desperately need attention and i genuinely feel dhoni in general and bcci in particular have failed in managing a career...
sree santh's...
he is a character...he can be a drama queen...he can be all this and that...
but he can bowl...
when he bowls...the upright seam and swing is a delight...not only to fans but purists alike...
he might pump fists returning back to his mark...he might appeal a bit long laced with drama...he might stare a batsmen on his follow through...but he is not the first bowler to do that...he will not be the last bowler to do that...
he can go overboard at times...but one thing which is clear and indisputable...he wants wickets with every ball he bowls...he is an attacking bowler with a heart...
he is what we see...but we don't necessarily see what he is...
if only he is not judged by his every expression...every flux of his muscle...every delivery he bowls...his every move on and off field...
if only we don't follow him like he is a terrorist that can explode a bomb any minute...we might still able to save a career...
a bowler who can bowl...a bowler that team india needs so desperately...but don't want to admit...
i hope and wish that when he makes a comeback...he would be given due space but more importantly the management will do away with the glasses tinted with skepticism whenever he is around...
ps: thanks balajhi of @nbalajhi to rekindle that old flame on twitter...
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dhoni, the captain, has every trophy in his cupboard that can make any captain envious...
in one day cricket he is undisputed king and one of the most valuable batsman...
but when it comes to tests... the doubts start to creep in... with his keeping... and batting...
dhoni wicket keeping of late is almost everything that has made kamran akmal the butt of all jokes...
he is not going for catches... fumbling with regular takes... standing some steps back only to gift himself some much needed time... and before you jump on me that in english conditions keeper requires bit of time to cover for late movement... you obviously missed the west indies series...
it screws our slip cordon is one side-effect...
dhoni collecting ball below knee is a regular feature... as is ball dissecting him and first slip with him stuck on his feet...
india could have still afforded his keeping services given his batting was as stable as is expected of wicket keeper batsman... but here dhoni is regressing fast to say the least...
when india plays at full strength... the batting line up of viru, gambhir, dravid, sachin, vvs, raina/yuvi/che precede him... followed by a lower order crisis man harbhajan singh... who has played more match winning/turning innings than dhoni for quite a while...
one can clearly see the class in batting line up... and invariably at least two out of first six batsmen clicks for india big time and we manage to score a decent total if not outright winning total to give our bowlers a chance to force result... so dhoni not scoring on consistent basis goes un-noticed... india winning more matches than it loses also glosses over dhoni poor form with bat...
so when team india loses (like in this series with england)... or plays understrength team that requires dhoni to step up as batsman... he gets exposed...
a lot of dhoni being the next gilchrist is based on his odi career...
while in tests he is yet to prove his credentials with reasonable
consistency...
he was and never will be a technically sound test batsman... his play is based on percentage cricket... so when there is slightest movement in that percentage towards bowler... he obviously finds it difficult...
even gilchrist was not technically accomplished batsman... a lot of his batting was hand eye coordination... but what differentiated him with dhoni is... he trusted his instincts...
if a batting line up of viru, gambhir, dravid, sachinn, vvs, raina/yuvi/che, dhoni followed by bhajji cannot make dhoni confident enough to go for shots... be the player he promised... be the player he can be... wonder what will...
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sometimes it just takes a simple question to force you see light... bring some much needed perspective...
after the match against south africa... another tsunami has struck india... it is called 'why dhoni opted to bowl nehra...?'
you walk around park... only to find self appointed postmortem surgeons making reports on india's chances at the world cup...
you switch any channel and the question was forced on to your throat like salesman hard-sells knowing he is getting short on monthly target...
frustrated by what was going on... my mom simply asked me...
didn't we win the t20 world cup when joginder sharma bowled last over...?
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india's campaign is just two match old but one can already see a spot being wasted... the no.7 batsman...
sachin, sehwag, gambhir, kohli, yuvi, dhoni is the batting order to die for and on our wickets you won't see pathan batting too often to make an impact...
dhoni is not using him to 'up the ante' like yesterday match when the situation was ripe to steal some quick runs but decided to send yuvi instead of him... although holding kohli, a last match centurion, was a daft move in first place but that is beyond the scope of this post...
the less said about his bowling the better... even dhoni don't have any confidence on his bowling and there you go... its not hard to see the point...
as we go more into the business end of world cup... i guess india will have to rethink its strategy... keep on wasting a spot as a protection for 'those days' or continue to give itself an option of a specialist bowler to throw ball to...
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first accept my sincere apology to talk about sundry matters like india vs south africa test series when the flavor of the moment is 'the asses'...
dhoni, after crushing new zealand in final test match of the test series, stood up for raina... and pronounced...
"If he doesn't get a break in the ODI series [after the first 2 games] then you have to [replace him]," Dhoni said. "He is at a point where he needs a break from cricket.
A 10 to 15-day break will really help him. He has played as much cricket as I have or most of other cricketers. He has played one more series in Zimbabwe. At times international cricket really drains you. More than the physical part it's always that mental part that is important. Unfortunately, most of the senior players are missing from the ODI series which means he had to play."
now no denying the fact that after dhoni, if any player that deserved the rest... it was suresh raina... he is the most busy player in team india, after dhoni, who has featured in almost all games without a break... but if he has really reached the 'tipping point' as mentioned by dhoni... why they continued to play him against no.8 team in the world...?
dhoni's excuse that they kept him playing thinking he would be given rest in one day series against new zealand don't cut the ice simply because why would you risk a fatigued player for three back to back five day games to limit team's potential when you have more fit and eager player in ranks in the form of cheteshwar pujara...?
as things stands now... if raina is not rested in later half of the odis (which i hope he will be) he is going to miss the first test against south africa in their home soil... and guess who will replace him...? cheteshwar pujara... in all probability...
this is baffling on many counts... if che is deemed capable enough to play in far tough conditions than the roads that were laid for new zealand test series at home... why he was not given an outing here instead of opting to include a player who is on the 'tipping point' as far as mental fatigue goes... hence, can be safely assumed, was not able to give his 100%... thereby limiting the potential of a team...?
dhoni himself acknowledged that india did not play to its potential in the test series against new zealand when he himself opted to do so...
another aspect is that if team management can decide who plays after selectors have done their job by selecting 15-16 players... can decide and announce more than a fortnight ago that so and so player will be rested... what was stopping the same think tank for doing it at home against a much lessor opponent...?
poor che... who had to spend time at bench when the roads were waiting for him to have a decent knocks against his name while a mentally fatigued player was allowed to keep playing to give him easy runs... but when the conditions will be more demanding... more challenging he will be picked to play coz the same fatigued player will be rested... and irrespective of whether che succeed or not will see his place being taken over again by the same player... who will come 'refreshed' after a well deserved break...
must say our team think tank has already made the forthcoming india vs south africa test series interesting without even a ball being bowled... at least for me...
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o yess... how well i slept yesterday and woke up a fresh after watching team india doing soopda saaf of aussies... only to be stirred and shaken by the friend and fellow bored member naked cricket's candid boredwaani... is one day team selection rigged...?
this got me thinking about our one day team... many usual suspects are rested and many usual suspects walk in without doing anything... as if the door was never closed on them... like they have the pass to the team that never expires irrespective of what they do... or to be precise not do on field which matters most to other players who get dropped even before one blinks an eye...
this brings me to an usual suspect who is, unusually, not rested despite being in visible discomfort... dhoni...
dhoni, inarguably, is the most busy international player today... reportedly his back is not holding well... his hands are swollen... his right hand's middle finger is badly damaged and taped so heavily that it takes an effort to fit it in gloves... if any player who needed rest more than anyone else from this farce of an odi series... it was mahender singh dhoni... mahi... but why he never says naahi (no) to rest is THE question worth wondering... specially the same dhoni who took rest from a test series sighting fatigue...
i have always wondered... why dhoni subject himself to be treated like a machine that has to be installed on every venue... every match... every series... however inconsequential...?
i fear, that dhoni becoming the most valuable player... the face of team india in corporate world... and lastly... his latest 200 crore endorsement deal has nothing to do with it... where he is required to feature in every game irrespective of its significance... and if it is not... i don't think he likes his middle finger that much... does he...? :)
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Sportpersons should be their own spokespersons. If they want, they can hire some professional to speak on their behalf; but for God's sake don't allow your parents or any of your family member to do so; neither professionally nor out of affection.
When I think of Yuvraj Singh-- more than him; the images of his parents come to my mind. Images like, "Yuvi's mum at an NGO function, requesting media to spare her son" or Yuvi's dad, in some Punjab cricket ground, with young lads carrying on their cricket training in the background, Clarifying, "Both Yuvraj and Dhoni are close to my heart; whosoever becomes the captain is not something I give a thought about". The write-up needs to be to the point so, I better not drag the visualization further; but I underline, there are many such images.
I can't see a single instance when Yuvraj addressed the media the way his parents do. Some rare instances when Yuvi actually tried to take on media; give an impression of more self pity than the conviction of a person so much gifted; with concluding remarks like, "I think I have to act in reality shows soon". [NOTE: Journalists will laugh encouraging at such remarks from legends; as they like Legends fall more than they like them rise; but their laugh should not be misunderstood]
Alright, that may be Yuvi's method of clearing himself of the vicious attacks of ever scrutinizing media; but the method is surely not of someone in control.
Taking the debate further, I think media likes images that people can relate to. If you can recall, at one time, when Sehwag was hitting double and triple centuries against Pakistan; Media was knocking the main gate of Sehwag's Delhi residence many times in a week; asking his mom, "what are you preparing for your lad ?" Kheer ? (porridge made up of milk and rice). Electronic media took the cue from an ad in which Sehwag's mom is shown as a doting mother who prepares his favorite dish daily.
I want to bring the electronic media's obsession with images that too showing "a bonded family" in another legend, the skipper Dhoni. Call it emotions, Dhoni once told to his manager that when he used to be a kid, his mum would give him cooked rice and milk when he would return from his daily practice sessions. The manager, impromptu shared this bite with the world, in some talk show.
To some it'll appear entirely silly but for a long time, succeeding the revelation, Dhoni was asked the same question by all, junior senior, journalist of all types; but in a more maternal affection induced sentence(snow ball effect) "Dhoni tell our readers how your mum used to make you drink two to three litres of milk every day". Luckily, Dhoni was smart to evade the media trap. how? in concluding paragraph.
Yuvraj, though a very gifted and brave young man, has not shown the kind of smartness Dhoni and after a few trappings Sehwag managed to show. Talking of smartness metric in this regards, a famous proverb comes handy, "Some change their routes seeing the light, others do so feeling the heat". Still both managed their professional issues well.
Yuvraj seems unwilling to know; he is still not donning the role of the spokesperson for himself for his good. Dhoni, it appears, always knew, family and profession are two different paths. On the path of one's profession, one has to always travel alone.
To conclude, let I come back to how Dhoni evaded the media's love for images trap. When a senior anchor asked him, "whether he used to have two to three litres of milk daily?" Dhoni replied as a matter of fact, "how can it be that way, after all I come from an ordinary family."
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Dhoni, who had been praised by the likes of VVS Laxman recently for his manner of handling victories and defeats with equal poise, refused to offer any excuses for India's fourth-biggest ODI defeat in terms of runs.
However, he did single out the toss, Mithun's heatstroke, the rushed schedule right after a gruelling Test series, and of course the spongy bounce of the surface.
dhoni is right to blame the toss here... once we lost the toss coupled with spongy bounce of the surface... india had no choice but to bundle out for 88 runs...
the rushed schedule also played its part although one skeptic pointed out that karthik, rohit, jadeja, praveen and nehra were not the part of the test team... yuvi did not play last two tests... and dhoni could well have taken rest coz he was in deep discomfort keeping wickets in last test match that would have meant seven fresh players would have played to negate the 'rushed schedule' but it was rightly dismissed as arm-chair pundit's hindsight knee-jerk reaction after the loss...
so one can see there were no excuses given for team india's fourth biggest odi defeat... we just did it to generate some interest towards this meaningless 'rushed' tri-series...
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it was nice till it lasted... was nice up there for a while...
if there were already doubts that we are actually no.1 or not in the real sense... then be prepared to safely say good bye even to the no.1 ranking and not only coz of the skills or talent the current team has at its disposal... which is how unfortunate it can be...
for quite some time it is clear that there is no synchrony between team management or to be precise dhoni and our bunch of jokers... if one is heading north then other is heading south just to show who is actually the boss... there just does not seem to have any thought or effort put into to not only keep the rating at the helm going but taking it to beyond the realms of ranking...
i agree that injuries have not helped but the functioning of current regime goes beyond buffoonery...
we have already discussed here that how 'farsighted' was the selection of ishant and sreesanth... but the ongoing omission of mishra is the classic example of open tussle that is going on between dhoni and the selectors...
it is clear that dhoni does not like mishra... and he has good reason to not... you don't boost your chances of play when you say "sehwag will be better captain than dhoni" while playing under later without putting up performances that can't be ignored...
without going on the merits and demerits of mishra's (non)selection in final xi... under the circumstances picking mishra is just a waste of place as it is happening in sri lanka right now... despite below par performances of harbhajan who is refusing to be the leader of the pack despite his claims and ojha who not even looking like restricting the scoring to bolt one end up leave alone coming close to taking wicket... is playing second tests on a pitch which is offering some bounce where mishra would have been more effective and logical choice...
amit mishra is a seasoned campaigner... he was bowled 20637 deliveries and taken 367 wicket in domestic cricket... and so its not that they want to give exposure to him by selecting him for tests and away tours... but somehow the rope given to him is so short that before you notice him bowl in tests you see him carrying drinks for his mates...
if you pick a player with an intention of not playing him then this is a waste of place to me... no.1 teams do not carry passengers with them... but the ongoing tussle between leadership and bunch of jokers has ensured that we are one option short to fall back to... one place that could have gone to ashwin... piyush chawla (sangakkara rates him as best leg spinner from india) or even to murali karthik or ramesh powar...
in a well settled team most players pick themselves... but selectors gain reputations for their selection of fringe players... which not only shows which direction they are heading to but keep the talent at disposal interested... but current selection panel is hell bent on killing everything their predecessor have managed... and if our team is still performing well and winning more matches than they are losing... then it is despite their buffoonery...
part of the blame should go to dhoni as well who seems more interested in creating his comfort zone... massaging his ego with his set of pet players rather than rise above it and play final xi on its merit... and if someone is thinking that in second test there at ssc we are playing with best xi then i must be watching different cricket...
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"Bhajji has always been a super hero, a larger than life figure. Whether it is Test match or one-dayers, Bhajji has always contributed runs whenever needed," Dhoni said. "But I think we should not call an allrounder and put pressure on him, and let him be the way that he is and allow him to contribute with the bat."
when the captain is happy with a chance win than a professional performance... when the captain (and a friend) wants bhajji to be like hitting sixes when the task could have been achieved by taking easy singles without unwanted frills... bhajii will keep on looking for a chance to become hero... sorry... super hero...
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Nice to find such a series on All-padded-Up. Will look forward to more such disagreements.
Although I can agree with you that, it's wrong to ask Dhoni to step down from T20 captaincy alone; I feel Dhoni should be made accountable for what he did and; if found in mistake, can be made to pay the price; loss of captaincy included.
I feel Straight Point is quite right when he said; Dhoni has started taking his Midas touch image, fed to him by Media since 2007, way too seriously. In the recently concluded WC, Dhoni took some decisions which, as you said were really stupid, say for itself, the magnitude of his folly. And for that any reprimand, that can even include stripping him of his captaincy, as doable option.
Why?
As, cricket is not just a game or a passion in the country; it also represents an entity (business) which earns crores. If as a key functionary, a captain can't be made accountable in tangible ways. Then how can one expect the cricket as an entity progress in the country?
Secondly, if Dhoni has taken some visibly stupid (as you mentioned in your post) or non-researched decisions; then how can one expect such a person to lead an entity which has an annual turnover worth in hundreds of crores?
I think, some among us have taken the "Dhoni should not be the captain of T20 format" in a too literal manner; when the actual point made, was the desire to fix accountability in some form on Dhoni, after T20 WC debacle. Again, some among us will say that he has performed well, prior to the world cup; but if there are visible signs of non-researched and fancy decision making even once in a big tournament; then isn't it be taken as an abnormality for cricket in the country.
As, it's alright to lose even after implementing researched and well thought out strategies; but losing even a single game with fanciful decision making, needs some serious boardroom scrutiny and if the need be, polite requests to quit.
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being captain of team india is an enviable position which places you almost at par with the first citizen of india at least in the fans eyes...
though dhoni has handled himself as well as team india very well but always being under consistent scrutiny of intrusive, 'breaking-news' obsessive media and the expectations to win every time india plays... does has its own pressures and cracks have started to become visible...
dhoni is arguably the busiest international player... he plays non stop cricket and feature in almost every match india plays irrespective of the format... he is our best one-day batsman... he is our keeper and he is our captain... playing non stop cricket is not only physically draining but it can numb the thinking process of even the best in business...specially when the player in question dons so many hats...
so it is hardly surprising that he and his captaincy has started to appear stale and jaded... now he appears to be just going through the motions and seems to have left the captaincy to an auto-pilot mode... the midas touch has evaporated in thin air... the flexibility he was known for has been replaced by fixed almost stubborn decision making process irrespective of conditions and situations... the desire to win has been replaced by desire to not lose...
its high time dhoni is given break from the t20 captaincy and keeping... the move will not only give him much needed breathing space but it will also give him time to think a fresh to bring his mojo back...
dhoni is the most valuable asset of team india who brings so much to the plate... he is too precious to be left to lose to the fatigue factor... so under the circumstances relieving him from t20 captaincy and keeping will not be an earth shattering idea...
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dhoni because...
the flexibility for which dhoni used to be known for has been replaced by some fixed notions as far as his leadership goes... his insistence on preferring pathan and jadeja over specialists has started to hurt india badly... even when selector gave him specialist spinners in the form of mishra and ojha... he kept preferring pathans... for the 'balance' sake... its not only the caribbean even in sri lanka where pitches and conditions were more conducive to spin... he did not play mishra...
he has also started to take 'reactive' decisions... in champions trophy first he said we can't play extra bowler coz it disturbs the balance of the team... then after a defeat and facing elimination... he said extra bowler helps coz you don't have to score that many runs... even in the crunch game his decision to bat first seems reaction to the criticism of bowling first decisions earlier rather than on sound logic...
he kept on bowling first when he did not had bowlers who could exploit the conditions and in crunch game yesterday he opted to bat when the situation was similar to say impending rain... when you want to chase coz you want to keep pace with revised target... but he chose to bat instead coz that appeared more convenient to him...
this goes to show how defensive he has become and do not want to push himself as well as the team... he seems content in the comfort zone... so does the team...
selectors because...
when your chief selector pledges in front of nation, after first test fiasco against south africa, that he will never select players who are not fully fit... and went on to do so for no less than a world cup... what can you do...?
the selections were based on reputations rather than form... the thinking was clear... stuff the team with batsmen coz t20 is a batsman game... and chawla's selections indicated that... who was apparently preferred over mishra and ojha for his batting skills... but they forgot that you just cannot bat and bat... but have to bowl too to defend the total... and no amount of big hitting can defend bad bowling...
dhoni was just not given bowlers to fall back on... instead he was given assembly of part times... it came as no surprise that when situation demanded dhoni could not find bowler to throw the ball to knowing he will give his 100%...
the squad for the world cup should be like where every player can make it into final xi depending upon conditions... situations... but we carried 3-4 passengers in a squad of 15 when even some main players were not close to the top form!
where does this leave captain...? what options dhoni had to maneuver...?
selectors stint thus far has been rank conservative that lacks vision... and if they continue to do so... this will erase everything what team india has achieved of late... despite their insipidity... and one wonders they are actually paid 40 lakhs a year for this crap!!
bcci... attention please... i can do as bad a job for even 10 lakhs per annum... or i might actually...
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"Your franchise pays so much money for you, you should at least make the semi-finals. After that you can say it is a lottery."
MS Dhoni, explains his charged-up reaction, and the unpredictability of the knock-out phase, after taking Chennai Super Kings into the IPL semi-finals.
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only the name has changed but not the fate... earlier i wrote about gambhir... yesterday dhoni did the same... with same result... and surrendered the advantage of winning the toss on platter to australia...
at the cost of repeating myself... i believe t20 is too abbreviated a format to let go any advantage that you have over your opponent...but it seems like legacy that one captain after another chose to chase in pressure cooker matches as if the pressure to perform is not enough in world events...
to quote what soulberry succinctly wrote at his blog...
Indian captains exhibit the strangest behaviour ever known when they are confronted with Australia and a won toss in a crucial encounter in a tournament or ICC tournament - they, almost predictably, opt to field first! It doesn't matter who the captain is - Azza, Ganguly or Dhoni - they exhibit the same unlearning behaviour.
team india thinking seems like they do not want to bat themselves out in first innings when the pitch is helping bowlers... but it is seen time and again... when they chase they bat themselves out of not only just the match but also from tournament...
another argument is that our bowling is weak so we decide to chase... but this is also wrong on two counts...
first... in all probability batsmen will not muddle things in middle as often as they do while chasing...
second... the pressure of a total on board coupled with pressure of a world event gives additional teeth... additional potency to the weak bowling...
so to me... the decision to bowl first is an utterly defensive and inexplicable decision... i hope the lesson is learned...
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before the match started cricket world was falling over one another in singing praise for afghanistan team and rightly so... but there has to be a distinction between praise and hype... and unfortunately... dhoni failed to spot the difference... and bite the hype...
we were told that coz of early morning start the wicket had 'juice' in it... bowling first was the wise and safe option... so dhoni took no chance and did the same... and robbed his batsmen the chance of playing full twenty overs ahead of a crucial match against much tougher opponent...
if dhoni cannot show confidence on his batsmen who have the collective experience of more international matches than the collective age of opposition team in park... against bowlers who will struggle to make it into our ranji teams... against a team which was debuting at international stage... and adopted a safety first approach then i can already sense how confident team india is going to the t20 world cup...
one looks for the signs on how confident a team is about itself... but dhoni's decision, who is hailed as aggressive captain, was anything but that...
so to me though india won... but dhoni blinked... to the hype of debutants...
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After seeing Dhoni perform and perform in tight situations has made " Calling Dhoni confident" a useless activity. India knows he's confident, the opposition teams know he's confident so why say the same thing again and again.
But after seeing Dhoni hit two massive (mile long long) sixes in yesterday's crucial match against King's Eleven Punjab: I want to say Dhoni is "Super confident".
Why I want to call him so and on what basis?
i think it's the nature of the shots which justifies the "Super confident tag".
As one sees, Dhoni chose to hit the two shots in a manner as if he was going for an assault towards the ball. The shots were not some trickery or any "in t20 any runs would matter; no matter how"; but were sheer resolve and hence pure brute force.
What do you say: Does Dhoni justify the "Super confident" tag? And does Dhoni's yesterday's performance point to something more important?
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i was going through routine after match press conference where i found dhoni to be refreshingly candid about india's performance, steyn bowling and what he thinks of sehwag's shot after he completed the century (tho i would have loved had someone shown guts to ask the same question about sachin too but anyhow...) but one thing which caught my attention was this...
When that happens with four bowlers and two fast bowlers they have something to play with. But it never happened for us, it became really tough for the fast bowlers to either contain them or get them out. Hopefully in Kolkata we'll get the reverse swing going. Whatever legal ways are there we tried to get the reverse swing going but it didn't happen for us.
as we all know
ball tampering is the flavor of the season thanks to afridi... so i thought why not devote some time to devise (legal) ways of ball tampering...?
here are some i could think of...
- wear really scuffed and pointed abdominal guard under your pants...
- close-in fielders... do the same but with inner pads...
- wicket keeper can use really rough leather on the portion where they pouch the ball...
- instead of throwing at wickets... target helmet, pads or bat of batsman instead...
- throw the ball on pitch as hard as you can when the appeal is turned down...
come on guys... give me more...
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