Since 2011, after team India won the World Cup their test record overseas have taken a serious beating. With an ageing team they lost in England and Australia 4-0 respectively. The record did not improve as the Mahendra Singh Dhoni led side have now lost three back to back test series in South Africa, New Zealand and most recently England. Though losing is nothing to be ashamed of if your opponent is superior to you and have played better but losing without an ounce of fighting spirit is something unacceptable.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni – Captain uncool
Dhoni may have won all the three formats of the limited overs trophy, but has an awful record as a captain outside the sub-continent. The series lost against England means he has now lost 13 of India’s last 18 away tests with only a solitary win which came at Lords. Dhoni has a very good head over his shoulders and is as cool as they come. With a very impressive record in the limited overs arena, he is one of the most successful captains of India. The problem with Dhoni is that he fails to capitalize on the moments of a test match. His fielding positions and change of bowlers baffles even the lunatics.
Legendary Australian cricketer Ian Chappell feels that Dhoni is a defensive captain at the test level who likes to hang back and wait for results. He lacks the spark in test captaincy which has hurt the team very badly. After the loss against England a lot of former cricketers have called for the removal of Dhoni from test captaincy, but is not entirely right to blame him for this situation. In the recently concluded test series only two of the top order batsmen scored a century respectively in a five match test series. The constant failure of the Pujara and Kohli put India in miserable positions throughout the series. The injury to Ishant Sharma after the Lords win did not help one bit.
Captains are as good as his team. Look at the England captain who was clearly struggling with his captaincy was helped by his team’s performances to lift his spirit. Without the likes of brilliant performances from James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Joe Root and other senior players in the team, he would not have been in a position that he is now in at the end of the Series. One of the most important issues is that Dhoni does not have enough confidence on his test players which is why he is reluctant to make effective decisions to change the outcome of a test match. The players need to perform in order to help their captain who has batted very well and curbed his natural instinct of playing aggressively. India’s next overseas challenge is against Australia down under for which there is not a suitable replacement for Dhoni. If India wants to do well overseas the players need to improve their performances and stop losing all their wickets within a session. The captain also needs to be proactive and instill courage in his players. Dhoni who has shown in many tough occasions that he can rise above all needs his character to stand tall more than ever.
Tags: Cricket, England, Ian Chappell, India, Ishant Sharma, M.S. Dhoni, Mahendra Singh Dhoni
