And still we will blame MS Dhoni

A feeling of deja-vu?

So we have lost the second test match and that too in a most humiliating way. We were not even able to extend play till the fifth day. We were not even able to take a 100-run lead. All thanks to our batsmen, who are supposed to be the best players of spin. Our bowlers, who were always supposed to have an edge over the English batsmen, were seen to be thrashed all round the park by Cook and Pietersen.

But now that we have lost the test match, most of us would be seen protesting against MS and asking for a change in captaincy. No one will see the failure of Sachin, Sehwag, Harbhajan,etc. It will be only Dhoni who will gain the spotlight as we have lost because he is the captain. So what do we expect our captain to do? Remove his gloves, skip keeping wickets and go in and bowl instead of Harbhajan or Ashwin?

He asked for a turning wicket because he thought we had the batting line-up which can play almost any spinner in the world. Yes he made a mistake there. Maybe the over confidence that he had in his batsman led to the team’s downfall. Well, any captain can expect something great from his team when he has players like Sachin, Viru and Kohli. But all of them were seen struggling to play the English spin attack who by no means are mysterious. Sachin who has played almost every legendary spinner the world has known was unable to tackle Panesar and that too on his home ground.

Dhoni asked for a turning wicket because he thought he had some of the best spinners in the world who can easily claim 20 wickets. And everyone knows that English batsman are by no means the best players of spin. That was the main reason why we went with Harbhajan as a third spinner in the team. Yes he made a mistake here, over expectancy can only harm the team.

Harbhajan, who was the most experienced bowler in the squad and has taken 400 odd test wickets, was seen struggling maintain a line or length against the English batsmen when on the first day itself Swann and Panesar were spinning a web around the Indian batsmen. Ashwin was unable to pitch the ball in the right area. He continues bowling a leg stump line when everyone knew he could only get wickets when he bowled a line outside the off stump. Ojha was no exception. Yes he took 5 wickets, but his line was not the line he should have been bowling. That was the main reason why Cook and KP took a troll on them.

KP, the batsman who failed on both the occasion in the first test, was hitting Indian spinners all over the ground as if he had been gifted superpowers powers before the match.

Yet everyone of them will escape the spotlight as over the past few years India has lost all the matches just because Dhoni is the captain. I am not a blind fan of MS. I am a blind fan of Team India. Yes ,I accept Dhoni’s batting was also not that great but with the wickets falling all around him and a captain coming at No.7, you can’t expect much from him.

Time for introspection?

It’s time when Indian selectors should take some hard steps and include some new blossoming faces to the team. Maybe Harbhajan needs to play some more domestic matches to make a comeback. And regarding Sachin, I think his retirement plans are ready; and if not, he must prove that he is still fit to play for the team just like Kallis and Chandrapaul.