Dejecting, Disgusting, Depressing...these three D's sums up the whole performance of India in the 2nd edition of World Cup T20. Who would have foreseen such a debacle for 'men in Blue'. Blame it on IPL or the arrogance of the players but defending champion is no more.
If asked to single out one person responsible for the ouster of India from T20 WC, the finger will definitely point to DhoniThe first edition of T20 world cup saw the rise of 'Dhoni'....the second edition will see the fall of 'Dhoni'. His juggling with batting order remains a puzzle-sending 'Ravindra Jadeja' ahead of in-form Yuvraj and murderous 'Yusuf' . His persistence with 'Ishant Sharma' -whose reputation exceeds his performance- ahead of Irfan Pathan-who bowled well in the match against west Indies and adds some flexibility to the batting with his power-hitting-has cost India dearly. His under usage of economical bowler-Irfan Pathan in the game against West Indies and R P Singh in them last game-more than often now clearly indicates that he is no more impartial now with some dirty politics creeping in the team.
Dhoni burst into the international scene as an attacking wicket-keeper batsman who can take aprrt any bowler at any day. His big sixes wer talk of the town. Then, came the transition in his stints in the middle, as he changed his natural game to adjust to the needs of the hour so much so that he finds it difficult to loft the ball beyond that '30-yard circle' let alone hitting sixes. His strike rate of 103. which is no better than Bhajji speaks enormously of our captain's "TALENT".
People (especially his DIE-HARD fans) would argue that he has rare batting average in ODIs and topped the chart in ICC ODI ranking for some period. But its not about the number of runs scored that matters but the situation and manner in which you scored those runs. Most of those runs came when India was either in full-control of the match or when India did not seem to win at any cost.
Going to his captaincy, it would be too early to comment on this with so many success attributed to Dhoni. But Most of the mathches which Dhoni have won for India was because of a sheer destiny. In the last SriLankan tour India thrashed SriLanka 4-1 but very noticed that in all the four matches which India won, it was because India batted first with toss playing a big factor. And in the last match when had to bat second with ball darting around in the night they seemed to be lost. The recent series against NewZealand only strengthened this facts with India ending up a loser in both their T20 matches with the spin of coin not going their way.
Agreed that India put up an inspirational show in the recent past under Dhoni's captaincy but "A team is as good as its players". When the players perform the team is bound to perform well. A captain's role is to motivate the players to do their best, bind them together as a cohesive unit, and lead from the front which of late Dhoni has failed miserably, be it on the or off the field. Even the "Sehwag fiasco" was not handled tactfully. Our 'Captain Cool' (cool as a cucumber, or is it???) instead of answering media questions paraded the whole team to the podium before the match conference only to add fuel to the fire. It would have been much better if instead of creating such a drama he had spend some more time on the nets to enhance his batting skills (Or should i say learn some basic skills for technically he is the worst player in this Indian team).
India still have one more game to play — against South Africa — but by all means, the battle on the pitch is over. The narrow three run loss against England will rankle in the heart for a long time. What went wrong? Was the decision to ask England to bat first correct or was it the lack of intensity that cost India the match. All these off the pitch issues need introspection and Mr. Dhoni needs to lead from the front and make sure that politics which has plagued Indian cricket for long does not find its place.
PS:- Please leave your comments even if you are a big fan of Dhoni so that i can gauge how deep you are into "DHONISM".
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i would love to see...dhoni bringing in drinks for his team-mates in near future...lolz
ReplyDeleteat least "captain cool"...will serve them chilled...
ReplyDeletewell said..A captain is expected to lead from the front..Dhoni would be better off leading from the back being 12th man....At least we won't be bothered to c his pathetic batting and horrible keeping...
ReplyDeleteBilkul sahi likha hai.(And I was a follower of 'DHONISM')
ReplyDelete:)
I am not a fan of any particular player, but i am a fan of cricket itself ! I dont watch cricket for india to win, but i follow the game for game itself.... nd dats y i am posting my comment here, being impartial,i think i am in a better position to write bout the game,then u ppl, who have already have made a mind to incapitate the sole representative of Jharkhand in the world arena.
ReplyDeleteI am admitting that not eveything went to the plan, bt then everyday is nt ur best day. And ofcourse to blame one man at the helm for everythin is not what i would think of...certainly not from u intellectuals.
Yeah dhoni committed the mistake of bringing in jadeja before yuvi and pathan. And i think he lasted longer then dhoni would have expected, thus making the requried run rate too steep. But some other day if jadeja would have played a brilliant knock, the same ppl ready to draw blood off dhoni, would have said "wow ! that was a masterstroke..." sadly it dinn clicked. But then that is what cricket is....a funny game where not everything goes as what ppl expect.
Regarding dhoni's batting prowess, 30 runs in 20 balls does not sound that bad to me... and considering the performances of every ex-captains,i repeat,every damn player who captained india( even the now legend, sachin) i must say it is too harsh to say that dhoni needs to learn the basics of cricket. agreed that now he is not at all explosive, but then every players game evolves,there may be few exceptions ofcourse.
Talking about politics... i find it funny! A year back it was said R.P.Singh is very close to dhoni and so he is partial towards him. I remember when RPS wan not in his prime and still dhoni wanted him in the team... it was said he is favouring him. Now it is said, he is favouring Ishant. The talk of politicising is just "BULLSHIT !!!!!"
And about playing 11,that is y irfan was not included, well i dont think dhoni is an autocrat who makes such decesions alone... ofcourse the coach and the vice captain too play an important part in deciding the final 11. so making a scapegoat out of dhoni is not correct.
Compare this ...
gambhir 26 (26 balls)
nd he played during powerplay,when in the 6 overs only 36 runs were scored.
raina 2 (5)
he was suffering frm short balls.
rohit 9 (8).
jadeja 25 (35).
agreed he is new,still he seemed to be playing ODI in 90's.
I wonder how one can single handedly pass the judgement that team india lost bcoz of dhoni. Its just not happening, once u go on making his temples and suddenly u start drwing ur knife fr his flesh. I am sure the character which dhoni is, he wl surely come out of this very soon.
And those ppl who wanted to see dhoni as 12th man..... so who r u rooting on for the next skipper ? the flashy yuvraaj,who still have to be a level-headed and matured cricketer or harbhajan who slap fellow mates at the drop of a hat? or is it shewag who has already proved how good a captain he is,in the IPL and who plays "according to instinct". Wonder what that is.... everybody is expected to play according to match situation, even the greats like Sachin confesses that.
Anyways i just intended to write comment and not a blog itself!
That is to say, if u want to be critical about y team india lost, u should consider the complete team and just a lone man. The game is too technical nd complex fr a single man to sabotage it. And Dhoni has not done enough to face the wrath from every single indian. I remember, fans of dhoni wanted to erect a temple for him.... he simply refused to be involved with it. He categorically went on saying that he "dont need temples for i am not god,jst a human being who commit mistakes.... but dont go on bashing me when i am wrong, for again, i am human, and it is only human to err." And i am sure he will learn from his errors and they will go on making him wise and the game of cricket more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI was long waiting for such a comment..agree it ot not u seem to be fan of Dhoni..and u r too deep into DHONISM....Mate,Dhoni of late is playing selfishly and i have gauged this fact considering the manner in which he took the game against west Indies and more importantly England...You may not have observed but he did not try to hit the ball hard until that last ball where he hit four...He was concerned about singles rather than fours or sixes which was the need of the hour...Talking about other players..they were simply undone by short-pitch balls but at least they made attempts to go oer the top...But our 'Captain Cool' had some other plans...Moreover,what vindicates his promoting himself ahead of Yusuf Pathan inspite of being not in the best of form...
ReplyDeleteAnd as far as my idea behind 12th man being Dhoni..i still believe he is the best man for the job...but captaincy alone cannot justify his being in the team.He needs to deliver as a keeper and more importantly as a batsman....and unless he do that itz bettre off him to come late in the innings..May be after Bhajji....Because then he would find nobody to blame....And he can play his NATURAL game...
ReplyDeleteAnd about politics..Who will justify the undr usage of 'Irfan' and R P singh...and over usage of overrated bowler 'Ishant'....That decision is taken by CAPTAIN alone and not the whole team management...rite?? If it is not politics then it certainly means that Dhoni of late is not utilizing his resources tactfully....
ReplyDeleteWell i think india missed their so called dumb senior player(Dravid),the kind of surface and bounce most of the pitches had,...short-tempered Indian side was always meant to suffer...and im very amazed that yaheer khan was playing the last match ,although he was ruled out from sqaud for WI due to some injeries...was dhoni not aware of his injury...if he was should he risk his players in such a unimportant game...if yaheer tried to hide his injury ,why there was no action taken??
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDhoni "The Indian Cricket Captain" bringing drinks...
ReplyDelete.
HuuuuuHHH ~:The great INDIAN ETHOS:~
............
Big heads talking like this, Of course somewhere vagabonds would be preparing to burn posters...
and politicians ready for some Big games...
dhoni proving his critics wrong, made 46 in 34 ball. the icing on the cake was dhoni hit a six when it mattered, in the last over nd thus was adjudged the man of the match!!!!
ReplyDeletehope his crtics will find some respite from the fact that even if dhoni is performing(i knw it might hurt sm1) india is,anyways, winning!
:)