MS Dhoni - Does he deserve to be criticised?

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!