MS Dhoni - The most successful captain of India

[ajaybaskar]

Dhoni not thirsting for revenge

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not thirsting for revenge. Not even the worst tour in the modern age for Team India seems to have forced him out of his philosophical vein of thinking. He believes it is simply a matter of going back to basics, which is a sensible enough principle in cricket. Except that the Indian cricket fans will be baying for blood.

To lose eight out of nine completed games is a fate that is almost unique to a modern touring team. To have lost a game after scoring in excess of 300 must be considered the worst performance by a bowling team. Not even hitting such a nadir seems to have upset the player who, till not so long ago, was acknowledged as the best captain in contemporary world cricket.

The reasons for such a bad performance are not far to seek. A devastating string of injuries to several of the players who made it possible for India to climb and stay as the world's top Test team for 20 months and to many of those who also created the World Cup victory just a bit over five months ago meant Team India was never at full strength. The loss of nine men to injury was far too debilitating.

The several close finishes in the limited-overs segment that also included an extraordinary tie, which could have ended in two other results, may be pointers to where Team India's real merits lie. The Test mace has been handed over with great dignity to England and it will take a long time for India to get it back. Make no mistake - Team India's future lies with the white ball, which is why Dhoni's men should be looking for quick revenge over England who won the T-20 in a canter despite India's fighting total and drew away to a 3-0 ODI win against a battling India. To say you should not let a 'revenge-like feeling' drive you to desperation in performance is not practical. The road forward should begin with a 'brownwash' of England in the one-day series next month.

Dhoni makes the valid point that this is not the time to sulk. But he should know more than anyone else that the blame for the shambolic show in England lies as much with the players as with the cricket board. The board erred by packing too much cricket in a greedy Unca Scrooge kind of way while the players themselves were not far behind in accepting any workload so long as the pay envelope could be stuffed in their pockets.

A greedy Board and selfish players had paid scant regard to a significant series against England in which the top Test ranking would be at stake. England's plans to steal the top spot from India were hatched long ago but BCCI treated the series as a joke. Team India came in dribs and drabs to England, having neither the time nor a plan to prepare properly for a top-notch series.

The philosopher king of Indian cricket, Dhoni now says, "Every side, every individual makes a mistake. But as long as you are learning from your mistake that's good enough." Fair enough, life rolls on such thinking even amid the gloom. It was good to note the skipper taking the trouble to list the few positives that were there to be seen even in such a dismal series.

Truth to tell, the rub of the green was also not India's even if it must be accepted that champion teams are supposed to make their own fortunes even in the face of adversity. There were times when it did seem God was an Englishman. Every rain break seemed to favour the home side. Also, the coach Duncan Fletcher and Dhoni lamented that whenever Team India set out for the nets more often than not it was raining and they had to switch sessions to indoor practice.

Whatever BCCI and the players do from here on the England results cannot be changed. If the disaster helps change attitudes on the part of both, Indian cricket may climb back to the peaks again, however long that journey to the top takes this time. It will, however, make very little difference if Indian cricket carries on in the same mode - IPL and Champions League first and everything else afterwards.

Again, it is the leaders who have to show the way. Dhoni, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman and Zaheer Khan helped India climb to the top. They would have to shape the future by showing they are prepared to change their attitude too in order to help Team India recover from these lows. Are they prepared to make the sacrifices all over again is the million dollar question that modern day cricket millionaires will have to answer.

[ajaybaskar]

Dhoni most valuable player in England-India ODIs

[ajaybaskar]

Dhoni on his gray hair

New Delhi: For everyone who held his breath waiting for the winning run in the final match of the 2011 World Cup and exhaled as skipper MS Dhoni hit a six to win it for India, here's the story behind it.

At the NDTV Indian Of The Year Awards 2011, where the Indian cricket team won the award for India's Heroes of the Year for the World Cup magic and history, the Captain Cool narrated how he promoted himself up the batting order in the final against Sri Lanka. "I hadn't planned to promote myself and play earlier. Gary (then coach Kirsten) asked me if I would go early. I thought with two spinners, maybe I should. It worked for me."

Captain cool Dhoni went in to bat ahead of the in-form Yuvraj Singh and explained why he played that gamble. The deadly Muralitharan, he said, was bowling and having played with the world's best spinner in the Chennai IPL team, he knew his game. The gamble paid off. "Gautam (Gambhir)and I do cheeky singles very well," said the captain, flanked by his team. And then turned to Yuvraj Singh to say, "Yuvi and I run the doubles very well."

And just how does he keep his cool in pressure situations? Count the grey hair said the 30-year-old Dhoni. "I get influenced by pressure but I have so much gray hair because I don't let expressions on field reveal this," he said.

The entire team shared a few words for their captain. "He's like a brother", said Sreesanth. "He pushed me down in the order," Yuvraj said jokingly.

More reminiscences from the historic World Cup. Gautam Gambhir said of his innings of 97 in the final, "As soon as I got out, I thought I will regret these three runs for rest of my life (got out at 97). But being part of winning side makes up for everything.

Current toast Virat Kohli said the team had won the cup for Sachin. When asked about his captain, Kohli said: "He backs his players all the time." Sehwag reiterated his sentiments. While Gambhir called Dhoni "Very relaxed", Ashwin said his skipper is always aware of the situation.

And some laughter. Sunil Gavaskar said the 1983 World Cup winning team was better looking. The poster boy of the 2011 winning team, the rather dashing Yuvraj Singh agreed. "He's right, we are an ugly group of guys."

[ajaybaskar]

Dhoni has reigned supreme for six years

Friday offered the first opportunity for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to test his resources, resolve and repel an opposition keen to sustain its splendid and successful undertaking in home conditions. Beaten hollow in all formats of the game, his team that had earned some plaudits for its work in the NatWest one-day series may have taken the field with anxiety, but he played his part to perfection and showed the way for his team to notch an emphatic win.

His undefeated 87 on the back of his unbeaten 78 at Lord’s and an unbeaten 50 at Cardiff meant that the England bowlers had not been able to outwit the Indian captain for the third time. It was also his second consecutive man of the match winning effort on Indian soil; the previous one having come in the ICC World Cup final against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2. He had scored a rousing unbeaten 91 hitting winning shot over long on.

It’s another superb performance with the bat that set him apart from the likes of Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, fast bowler Umesh Yadav and the slow spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Taking guard at the fall of Kohli as the fourth Indian wicket, Dhoni once again gave serious import to the No. 6 position in the order and restored the innings to a highly competitive score that England failed to muster under the lights.

Without doubt it was yet another successful outing for Dhoni, under pressure to cause a quick turnaround after the rout in England. A batsman who is indifferent to the science of batting, relishes rural hoicks, attempts the extremities of the helicopter-shot and surprises opponents and spectators with strokes of rich brilliance, has been India’s leading batsman in one-day internationals in the last six years. Numbers eloquently speak of his resounding success and ability to extract heavy penalty of even good balls. Dhoni has had an amazing run after being blotted by a zero on debut against Bangladesh at Chittagong, two days before the Christmas of 2004. A robust 148 that pulverized Pakistan’s sharp pace and spin attack at Vishakapatnam April 5, 2005 set him into forward motion in Indian cricket.

After his match-winning 87 on Friday, his record stands at 6372 runs in 172 innings with seven centuries, 42 half centuries, an average of 50.17 and a strike rate slightly lower than 90. Dissecting the figures - 5017 runs scored under daylight in 125 innings - one would place him as a formidable and dangerous opponent. He has scored 4094 runs in 93 innings for a winning cause at a very impressive average of 75.81 which is marginally higher than 73.83 for his 1772 runs for the winning cause in 39 home innings. He has scored 2322 for a winning team in 54 innings in away matches for a remarkable average of 77.40.

Dhoni’s response to situations has been unerring and extraordinary scoring freely in all positions from No. 3 to 7. He has opened the innings twice and scored 98 (49.00), batted one-down 16 times and scored 993 (82.75), two down 16 times and scored 833 (69.42), batted three down 45 times and scored 1852 runs (54.47), batted four down 64 times and scored 1904 (39.67), five down 26 times and scored 641 (40.06) and six down three time and scored 51 (17.00). Clearly Dhoni has reigned supreme for the last seven years.

Left hander Yuvraj Singh comes close to Dhoni’s achievements from the time the present India captain made his debut. In this period Yuvraj has played 157 innings and scored 5547 runs at 42. 67 with a strike rate of 88.43. Sachin Tendulkar has played 111 innings, scored 4680 at 45.88, Virender Sehwag has played 129 innings, scored 4699 runs at 37.29, Rahul Dravid has played 96 innings and scored 3251 runs at 39.17 and Suresh Raina has played 107 innings and scored 3054 runs at 35.51. Gautam Gambhir has played 106 innings and scored 3993 runs at 41.58. In fact the left hander - either being dropped or because of injury - has not figured in 135 one-day internationals after he made his debut in April 2003.

[littlemaster1982]

Lt. Colonel Dhoni

[GSV]

Dhoni to decide ODI future in 2013
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/co...ry/545748.html

[SoftSword]

what a foresight and the way he visualises on how a new keeper would cope up in WC 2015 if he pulls out close to the tournament...
the way he plans the new guy would atleast need 100 international games to hav the sort of exp for that...
sets the absolute example for leadership...

oh dhoni.... the most admired person after sachin in cricket world...

[Plum]

If dhoni also quits, will ODI format survive until next world cup?

[wizzy]

Kohls route clear

[VinodKumar's]

Singam