5 reasons why MS Dhoni is a better captain than Sourav Ganguly

One is a master tactician, one the coolest thing Indians have ever seen. One got to the nerves of opponent captains, made himself immortal with a swirling of shirt at cricket’s Mecca. The other wouldn’t give away any expression even when the World Cup is at stake, with nerves of steel.One showed India can win overseas, the other made Indians believe that they had a greater chance of winning, even when we needed an improbable amount of runs in the last over. Picking one over the other would be an injustice, but a lot of comparisons have been done already.Yet, if I could only pick one captain for my side and my life depended on it, it would be Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Here are 5 reasons why, to me, he is a better captain.

#5 Uncontroversial on and off the field

Dhoni has led the team during the most tumultuous of times. While Ganguly ensured that he cleaned Indian cricket’s image after the Azharuddin debacle, which is commendable in itself, Dhoni has managed to win in spite of massive upheavals in Indian cricket outside the ground. Administrator issues, match-fixing sting programs, corruption charges, board versus board tug-of-wars: Dhoni has managed to brainwash his team into believing all is well in the ground.

In fact, Indian teams, under Dhoni, have learnt the art of not worrying about controversies outside the field. While Ganguly was a firebrand, who managed to stir up storms and turn that into his team’s strength, Dhoni has a different style, that of reassurance and unbelievable calm. Over the years, the Indian cricket audiences have absorbed that from him, too. His tactics are unconventional and about the cause for most of the controversy that he creates on the field or outside, but, then, he handles the flak for them smoother than anyone.

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#4 Doubly dangerous at home

Dhoni has four wins outside Asia, same as the best Asian captains. He has a lot more losses, though, largely skewing the stats. His defensive captaincy is often blamed for the staggering number of losses, and that allegation is not totally baseless. Nevertheless, Dhoni has done something that very few Asian captains have managed: he has turned India into a bastion of sorts.

Only England with a 2-1 series win and South Africa, drawing a series, came anywhere close to flustering him. In ODIs, India is virtually invincible on home turf, as the victorious ODI World Cup campaign of 2011 proved. India is probably the strongest home team because Dhoni knows his team in and out, the grounds in and out, and is the best skipper on turfs that turn. While people clamour about his overseas record, they forget his immense contribution to India’s No.1 ODI ranking with a side that has almost seamlessly gone through transition.

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#3 Test and ODI stats

Dhoni is head and shoulders above any other current captain in the international circuit, leave alone Ganguly, in Test and ODI stats. Dhoni is 27/58 at 46.5% winning as opposed to Ganguly’s 21/49 at 42.8% winning. In ODIs, Dhoni’s 61% win is much higher than 53.9%.

Credit must be given where it is due, and Ganguly leads Dhoni in overseas stats after the three bad series that Captain Cool had to endure with teams that were either on the wane or rebuilding. Nevertheless, the overall record suggests one thing: you give Dhoni a sniff at the conditions or a team that can compete, and he will find a way to squeeze opponents. For detailed stats, you can go through this Cricinfo piece.

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#2 Big match player and captain

Dhoni is probably India’s big match talisman. His mere presence does something to the team, probably because he doesn’t betray even an ounce of emotion, doesn’t push his teammates to the point of breaking and doesn’t look like a man who cares, no matter what the prize.

Of course, he cares, but he doesn’t show it; more often than not, his dead-fish expression, often accentuated by sunglasses, drives a wedge into the opponents, who almost always seem to be desperate in comparison. Dhoni is a magnificent 7/11 in tournament finals as opposed to Ganguly’s 1/14. No matter how great a captain, he cannot be the greatest if he hasn’t contributed to the mantelpiece. Dhoni has filled it with everything worth having: ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, Asia Cup, Champions Trophy and CB Series.

Dhoni alone, as a skipper, has a lot more trophies than South Africa and England have in their cricketing histories, put together. More importantly, unlike Ganguly, Dhoni doesn’t shy away from tinkering with things in big matches, be it leaving an inexperienced bowler for the last over, giving a badly battered bowler a crucial over or promoting himself up the order ahead of a man-in-form just to tackle the conditions.

Sometimes he receives flak for it; sometimes he turns brickbats into bouquets. But he never shies away from taking it head-on and calling the shots.

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#1 Stickler for right things

This is easily Dhoni’s best quality and also offers his best contribution. It is an area where he will always beat every Indian captain because he leads by example, something Ganguly had failed at. Dhoni doesn’t show outrage at bad bowling or bad batting, but he does for all for best practices; he is overtly charged about things in cricket that are learnt by practice: running between the wickets, fielding, direct throws, diving saves.

He is usually more vociferous about players’ contributions apart from the disciplines that they were picked for, the bits that he garners to create a surprisingly substantial amount adding up in the eventual win. Dhoni, thanks to the facilities at most Indian stadiums and the increasing awareness, has also ensured that his side is amongst the top four fielding teams along with South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.