An open letter from a Mahendra Singh Dhoni fan

By Kaushik Narayanan

Updated - 12 Oct 2015, 19:58 IST

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5 Min Read

An open letter from a Mahendra Singh Dhoni fan:

To all the cricket fans,

Another tough loss for India yesterday, and instinctively, all the fingers are being pointed on Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of India’s ODI team. Everyone, including the self-appointed critics of the game, have been sharpening their knives for quite a while for the axing of the veteran, and with each and every failure, more and more critics, and surprisingly, his own fans, are calling for his axing.

Now here is a question to everyone who is making noise for MSD to move out. Does he really deserve to be out of the team for the team’s performance? Is the captain solely responsible for each and every failure the team has incurred, irrespective of his role in the defeat?

Let us take the case of the first T20I and the first ODI. Two similar scenarios, and similar results. While the top order batting has been impressive, there are a couple of factors which led India down in both the matches – death bowling and finishing. While India struggled to score more than 30 runs off the last 4 overs in the first T20I, yesterday, they managed to mess up a chase which looked certainly within reach. And not to forget, the horrible death bowling in both the matches.

Now, both the matches were lost by close margins, with Dhoni’s contribution in the ODI being a more meaningful one. But why, despite the poor death bowling performance yesterday, is he blamed for not performing, despite nearly taking the team to the victory (he did score more than run a ball 30, but managed to mis-hit the penultimate ball). Why is the bowling attack, despite letting down the team time and again over the past couple of years as far as death bowling is concerned, is being ignored, and Dhoni has been made a scapegoat?

MS Dhoni, being a true leader, accepted his role in the defeat. It was pretty sure that he did not trust his finishing capabilities, and that is exactly why he was searching for a finisher. And when he raised the point for non-selection of Ajinkya Rahane, again fingers were pointed at him in regards to not picking up a talented person.

Eventually he did pick him up to stabilize the top order, and Rahane justified his place. And not to forget the unfortunate events which led to Ashwin being injured. It can be accepted that if Ashwin was available for service, things could have been different and the slaughter at the end could have been prevented. How can someone even predict that India’s strike bowler will get injured in that absurd manner? If nobody can, then how could Dhoni, who saved Ashwin specifically for the death overs, could have predicted it?

The above study exactly showcases Dhoni’s captaincy career in short. Ever since his miracle victory at the T20 world cup in 2007, not only he garnered unprecedented fame for someone not named “Sachin Tendulkar”, he also raised absurd standards in regards to his own performance. While the expectation of providing a miracle victory out of nowhere was the belief of one part of the crowd, the other part calls it the “midas touch”, i.e. being at the right place in the right time. And not to forget his godly finishing abilities during those days, expectations from him, both fans and haters alike, has no limit. But it is time that one realizes that he is also a human.

Yes, he has achieved feats which are literally impossible. Having won everything to win internationally as a captain, expectations were always very high from him. But sadly, many do not realize that he is just a part of the team, and not the team itself. He was majorly blamed for series defeats in England and Australia in 2011, whereas the lack of penetration in bowling and waning powers of yesteryear players were the major reasons for the losses. His captaincy was blamed for India getting crashed out of world cup semi-finals and for losing the T20 World Cup finals last year. But was the team really strong enough to beat an in form Australia in their own ground? Was Dhoni really responsible for Yuvraj’s slow performance, who performed well in previous matches?

It has been a usual norm to appreciate the team when they win, and blame specifically the captain, a.k.a MS Dhoni when the team loses. Yes, he is responsible for whenever the team loses the match, but cricket is a team sport, and when the team loses, the entire team is responsible, and not the captain himself. Some even attributed as luck being a major factor for Dhoni’s success as a captain, and him riding on other’s success. But was luck responsible when he scored 91* in the world cup final? Was luck responsible for innumerable number of games wherein he helped India to either post a good target or chase down a seemingly impossible target? His numbers as a captain, a wicket-keeper and batsman are enough to prove his overall worth as a player for the team.

Every decision he has taken as a captain, has a valid logic behind it. The only reason he preferred Joginder Sharma over Harbhajan Singh to ball for that final over was because Misbah hammered Harbhajan all over the park just 2 overs before. And the decision paid dividends. So do many other decisions, especially for selection of the team. Rohit Sharma, who is heavily criticized in the past for underperforming, is having a dream run, and it is possible only because Dhoni insisted over the past 2-3 years to stick with him, instead of dropping him because of a couple of bad performances. And the same goes for so many other players who have sealed their spot in the team. So despite some poor performances by some of the players, the logic behind the selection of those individuals is taken in regards to a long-term plan.

Even in what is considered as his worst year as a player, he has scored with an average of 41, and has outscored Virat Kohli, who is having a lean patch, despite coming way down the order. So what exactly warrants his removal from the team? And Dhoni has a measure about his credibility towards the team. He knew he was a liability in the longer formats, and that is the reason for his abrupt retirement in the longer format.

Dhoni still has a lot to give in for the team. As a player, he is by far the best wicket-keeper batsman in the shorter formats, and as a lower middle order batsman he still is very capable, despite losing his abilities as a finisher. And he knows a measure of his capabilities, and it is far time we, the fans, believe in him. He is that sort of player who puts the team and the nation ahead of his own interests, and does not play for personal record or some other glory.

Even the greatest of greats have had lean patches, but every fire burns brighter before it vanishes. And MS Dhoni, despite being at the fag end of his career, still has a lot to contribute for the team. But for once, instead of expecting more and more, let us have some faith in his decisions. Good times might be just around the corner. It is high time we owe that for a selfless player who has possibly achieved more for the country as a captain than any other player.

A Mahendra Singh Dhoni fan.

 

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