Winter is over for Captain Cool

Winter is over; heaters have been unplugged and packed. And unless you decide for an impromptu trip to some hill station, your woolens will be shoved back to their place in obscurity for more than half-a-year.

Reserve a few balls of naphthalene for them; they had warmed your body through the season of mist. And similarly, but for different reasons, reserve some sympathy for the man who during this same period of season change last year had wrapped your soul in equal warmth.

As April 2 approaches Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni must be ruminating over the year gone by. Such short span, such tectonic movements, last year came and left with the non-expectancy we attribute only to the calamities of nature. The man who at this time last year was hardly considered human — he could neither fail nor err — is all of a sudden being questioned for his very belonging in our conscience.

Under Dhoni India has suffered eight straight defeats in overseas Tests, add to that the 3-0 loss in ODIs in England and disappointment knows no bound. Dhoni’s own form has fallen down to unmentionable numbers. His on-field decisions have backfired, even off the field, allegations have been plenty.

In this series Dhoni’s scores read: 6, 23, 57*, 2, 12 and 2, in the series in England it had read 28, 16, 5, 0, 77, 74*, 17 and 3. People have pointed out technical frailties, such as lack of footwork against quality pacers. His poor glove-work has also been exposed. He has even been called a liability.

In a recent press release Dhoni has gone ahead saying, “If there is someone who can do a better job (of captaincy), then it’s a place that should be given to him.” A few days ago, he had even hinted at possible retirement by 2013.

These are transitional times again: the seniors have reached the fag end of their careers, the juniors have rough-cut talent. We need a leader who can stand up and dictate. A leader who can dominate — over his own men if need be.

Compare these to his much bolder, much confident, “I don’t mind repeating everything,” after the World Cup win last year and you can gauge the amount soil that has eroded over the period.

One must feel pity for a man who from nowhere took the reins of captaincy and guided an untested unit to victory in the inaugural T20 World Cup. Ideally, one should not judge a World Cup winning captain based on one lean patch. And given that the mentioned flaws in his batting and keeping techniques had been ever-present and were merrily ignored, one can in no way claim for Dhoni’s head based on these claims.

Cricket history is filled with such examples when a team had persisted with a non-performing captain believing in his credentials. Australian great, Mark Taylor had continued to be at the helm even after being fifty-less for 21 straight innings, whereas Dhoni has even scored a fine hundred against West Indies at home series a few months ago. So what’s the fuss all about?

The problem with Dhoni is that none of the issues attached to ‘Dhoni the player’ is of concern; the gradual demise of ‘Dhoni the captain’ has gotten the world alarmed.

The former Australian captain Ian Chappell had once written about captaincy: “The golden rule decrees the captain gets the pat on the back when it goes well and the kick in the backside when it unravels.”

This is exactly what has gone wrong in Dhoni’s case. Like his predecessor Sourav Ganguly, his cracks became visible only when the veil of team performance had gotten removed and the individual behind was laid exposed. But unlike Ganguly whose decision-making ability was never under question, Dhoni’s defensive strategy, off late, has been heavily criticised.

“He’s (Dhoni is) a reactive tactician not a proactive one…he hasn’t managed to stir India to play its best cricket,” writes S. Ram Mahesh in his column for The Hindu.

When one remembers the thrilling victory in the T20 World Cup of 2007, one remembers Misbah’s horrendous mishit and remembers the bowler Joginder Sharma. According to many pundits that unexpected move to bring Sharma in for the final over was a master-stroke and established the risk-taking ability of our Captain Cool.

But last season in South Africa, and then consistently in England and Australia, it is unbelievable how this same man, with his defensive field settings, allowed the opposition’s tail-end batsmen to forge and carry match-changing partnerships.

However, one thing that hasn’t changed about Dhoni is his trademark calm and composure. He has exhibited the same poker-face through all defeats, which is a blessed quality for a captain to have. His side can always look up to him and return back with no sense of panic. But there is still a fine line between being ‘cool’ and ‘cold’. And Dhoni to our dismay has been too cold for comfort.

The inspiring speeches, the simmering confidence are all missing. Many times in this recent series while his teammates have gone ahead making mindless statements in public, Dhoni has been unable to pull the bridle. His “(If) you die, you die; you don’t see which is a better way to die” after the whitewash in Australia stood out as realistic in the bunch of deniers. But captains are expected to do better things.

Sourav Ganguly in his heydays, never a media-pally cricketer, was flayed for openly calling India’s batting “a disgrace” after his team’s poor performance in a series in South Africa. It is known that he wasn’t cool like his successor is. He would stand arm akimbo and shout at his players on the field. But he commanded respect from at least his teammates — the rest were people who never mattered to him.

Some might say he took a school-teacher approach to leadership, but for a team in transition his ways paid off. These are transitional times again: the seniors have reached the fag end of their careers, the juniors have rough-cut talent. We need a leader who can stand up and dictate; a leader who can dominate — over his own men if need be. A leader for whom a player can say, “I’m ready to die for such a captain.”

Debojit Dutta can be found doodling waywardly and pening absurdly on his blog Musings and Lyrics