MS Dhoni - Does he deserve to be criticised?

It’s only natural that in a country where cricket is expected to be a major source of nation’s glory, defeats and victories often invite lambasting and celebrations to unprecedented horizons. And that’s also the reason why cricketers in our country are respected, paid and maintained at such an immense level compared to other cricketing nations.

Indian cricket fans are indeed demanding

None of the cricket enthusiasts, experts and journalists in our country will bear Team India putting up a horrific showing in any cricketing tie they are involved in. When Dhoni’s devils finished off 2013 on a sour note in South Africa and returned home, the criticism was certainly not of the magnitude as it is after the tour of New Zealand, which should also give you a perspective on what was expected of Team India when they boarded the flight to the land of the Kiwis.

Personally, I was envisaging Team India to do the double in New Zealand and build momentum towards other overseas tours during this year, and most importantly for the World Cup, which is slated to take place in New Zealand and Australia in early 2015.

Albeit I expected New Zealand to put up a spirited performance, and make Team India earn their rewards if they were to, I certainly never thought that they could beat us in our own game. Throughout 2013, Dhoni’s men showed the world that they could finish off games with utmost disdain and weren’t feared of picking themselves up from ominous situations. But that trend got reversed in New Zealand, where we couldn’t finish off games from seemingly winning positions. Right from the start of the ODI series at Napier to the culmination of the tour in Wellington, we had numerous chances to stamp our authority and win games, but we never quite managed to.

And to further add to Dhoni’s woes, Team India hit the tour’s lowest point when they had New Zealand tottering at 94-5 in the 2nd innings of the 2nd Test match at Basin Reserve, behind India by a further 152 runs, the Test match has only reached lunch time on day 3, and I don’t know how you cannot squeeze the life out of any team in such a scenario.

That was probably the invitation Dhoni gave the Indian public to criticize him and begin talks of sacking him as the captain of the Indian Test side. But is it fair on the part of the Indian cricketing public to lambaste Dhoni when you feel that the team hasn’t done him any favor at various junctures during the tour of New Zealand?

The story of India’s tour of New Zealand wasn’t a case of Team India getting bulldozed by a New Zealand side, which played as a team right throughout the tour, and thwarted India from claiming any freebies. To keep it simple, New Zealand did to Team India what Team India was expected to do to New Zealand, and emphatically at that.

The story of the ODI series for Team India was that Ashwin and Jadeja failed to pick wickets during the middle overs, and Mohammed Shami was the only one, who looked threatening of all the Indian fast bowlers. As miserable as it could get, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar would manage to pick up Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill relatively cheaply, but it only lead to the arrival of Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson, who proved to be the major nemesis for Team India on this tour.

When it came to India’s batting, Rohit Sharma employed tight defence at one end, and Dhawan at the other end was asked to go after the bowling. This series in many ways was a rusty one for Dhawan, and he was never able to get going at the top of the order. He would play a couple of good shots, but eventually a false shot would kick in to bring about his dismissal, and losing Dhawan cheaply also meant that Team India never quite got off to an enviable start.

Had it not been for the fine performances of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni for the entire length of the ODI series, Team India most times might have failed to even reach 200,

Dhoni was also reluctant to bat first after winning the toss for most part of the ODI series, and the only time he decided to bat first in the 4th ODI of the series, Team India got off to the worst possible start, and didn’t manage to put up a sizable total on the board. A magnificent century from Ross Taylor in New Zealand’s run chase pinned India into submission.

Dhoni wanted to play to his team’s strengths, which was to chase and have a go at whatever total New Zealand set them, but when India’s batting fails it’s next to impossible to make up for the poor bowling performances. Team India’s forte is it’s batting line-up, and when the batting clicks, more nor often Team India ends up winning the game.

Come the start of the Test series in Auckland, Dhoni and the batsmen had to thank their fast bowlers for keeping them in the game even after they faltered to reply strongly to New Zealand’s mammoth 503 in the 1st innings. Having conceded a first innings lead of 301, Team India managed to have a sniff, thanks to their fast bowlers, who restricted New Zealand to 105 in the 2nd innings of Test match. A target of 407, albeit daunting, wasn’t out of Team India’s grasp.

A gutsy hundred from Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli continuing his rich vein of form meant that Team India once again drove themselves into a position of strength, from where they squandered advantage once again on the tour. At 222/2, and with Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane still to come, who would have thought that Team India would slump to 270/6, and hand over the advantage to New Zealand.

A late blitz from Jadeja and Dhoni couldn’t give India it’s first win of the series, and a defeat in the first Test deprived them of returning home with any sort of a silverware in the two match Test series.

Dhoni once again won the toss at the Basin Reserve in the second Test match of the series, and asked New Zealand to bat first on a green pitch. Indian fast bowlers lead by Ishant Sharma bowled New Zealand out for a paltry 192, and the wicket had eased out by the time India came out to bat. An aggressive 98 from Dhawan, and 1st Test hundred for Ajinkya Rahane gave Team India a stranglehold of the game, having made 438 and going on to lead New Zealand by 246.

The script wouldn’t be any different for Team India this time, as Brendon McCullum eclipsed Martin Crowe’s 299 with a triple century, which happened to be the first by a New Zealander and James Neesham scored a century on debut.

The under-fire duo

At various junctures in this series, Indian batsmen and bowlers took turns to falter, and although Dhoni was partly culpable for his tactics, it’s difficult to completely blame him for yet another overseas failure. But such is the cruelty of the game. The entire team may falter, but it’s the captain, who’ll get all the lambasting.

Bottom line is that Dhoni can’t just play on instincts in foreign conditions, which demand respect, and Team India and Dhoni might have well lost it because of that. Yes there’s improvement from the team that went down 0-8 in England and Australia, but the 1st overseas Test win remains tantalizing for Dhoni and Team India.

Bring on India’s tour of England in June!

Check RCB Squad 2024 Details. Follow Sportskeeda for IPL 2024 Live Score, Schedule, Points Table

Quick Links

Edited by Staff Editor