Anti-Dhonism!!!

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".

Task cut out!!!

Being a huge cricket fan, my writing on this subject was always there waiting. Ironically, it came in the wake of India drubbing at the hands of not much fancied West Indies. Disappointed as other fans who follow cricket like a religion, i found it an opportunity to expose few chinks in the Indian armoury.

With the exit of Sehwag (whose sheer presence send shivers down opponents' spine) India suddenly looks not so formidable. Many would argue that with Rohit Sharma in such a sublime touch India's opening woes are rather solved but then Sehwag not only scores at breathtaking speed (strike rate 144.80) but also induces a fear factor among every bowler. And with other players not playing to their potential (Dhoni needs a special mention here) ,the failure of the openers will always test the star-studded batting line-up as was evident in the match against West Indies. Barring Yuvraj Singh (67 off 43) and Yusuf Pathan (31 off 23), Indian batting looked to be jiffy. Had these two not hit some lusty blows towards the end of the innings India would have ended below par score. If asked to rate the players based on their performance in the last match the man who stood last will be none other than our 'Captain Cool' (11 off 23-strike rate below 50) for he ensured that run rate stays below 6.00. Agreed that with heir chips down India needed someone to stay at the crease and resurrect the innings, but that does not vindicate his scoring with such a dismal strike rate. In such a format where one big over can turn the tide in one's favor, he seems to have lost the art of acceleration. His captaincy in the last game was also below par. With Irfan Pathan still left with two more overs after such a tight opening spell, he handed over the bowl to 'Ishant Sharma' in the 17th over (That over made all the difference with 16 runs being scored). Full marks though for not turning up at No 3.

The other player who was a big disappointment was 'Gautam Gambhir'. He has regained a bit of his form in this tourney after that horrible stint in IPL but he is not even half of what he used to be the last year or the last edition of T20 world cup for that matter. Now that he has been part of this Indian team for last two years he need to be a bit more responsible in his approach.

The bowling department looked to be shambolic especially when it comes to death overs. Ishant Sharma after that successful Australian tour where he troubled every batsman, is out of touch. The pace which used to be the talk of the town has dropped considerably. One get the feeling that he is now an over-rated bowler. Its high time that Indian think-tank look for other options with R P Singh-one of the main architect of India win in the last edition- also in the fray. The other bowlers were also off the mark. A score of 153 meant that every bowler had to be keep it tight but they failed to deliver.

Talking about fielding, apart from 'Raina' the other seemed to be playing a gully cricket. The dropped catches of Gayle and the missed run out chance of Bravo (the man who took Indian bowling to apart after his stupendous bowling performance-the culprit was again our 'Captain Cool') turned the game. And not to mention about some of the ground fielding which were too sloppy. With such a horrible fielding they don't look to defend the title even when their batsman come to party.

Many would argue that off-the-field issue (the rift between Dhoni and Sehwag) is taking its toll in this Indian team. But these are just lame excuses. Instead of acting on emotions they should play professionally and let their bat/bowl do more talking. There is still lot of cricket to be played and it would be silly to write them off. Placed at the bottom of the group, the Men in Blue must beat both England and South Africa while hoping for a better run-rate than its rivals. Unless the bowlers raise their game and fielders stop treating it a gully cricket India can only pray. Moreover it will be interesting to watch how 'Dhoni' take this team further with both the on and off the field issues not going India's way. For the time being we can simply keep our fingers crossed and wait for some inspirational performance from 'Men in Blue'. They have done it in the past and with a bunch of talents they have,they can do it again.....