Dhoni most disappointing, Sourav by far the best Indian captain: Mark Waugh

Mark Waugh feels Dhoni lacks fighting spirit

Former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh criticised Indian captain MS Dhoni‘s captaincy skills. An unimpressed Mark Waugh termed Dhoni as a “rudderless” and “confused” captain in his latest column. Mark, who is also the younger brother of former Australian captain Steve Waugh, called Dhoni the “most disappointing captain” India has ever had. The younger Waugh believes that Sourav Ganguly is “by far the best Indian captain”.

“Out of all Indian captains I have seen or played against, I would go to an extent saying that MS Dhoni has been the most disappointing. Indian skippers have always been defensive especially when compared to their Australian counterparts, but still they haven’t been looked as rudderless as Dhoni,” Waugh wrote.

Talking about other Indian captains, Waugh wrote, “Mohammed Azharuddin was a smart skipper, while Tendulkar always led by example. Sourav Ganguly was by far the best Indian skipper and his positive leadership made a huge difference in the 2001 tour and later when Indians toured here in 2003-04. Captaincy is always not just about winning matches, but also about how you approach a game and manage the team. Ganguly did that pretty well.”

Even in the past Mark Waugh had called Dhoni a defensive captain who sits back and waits for his opponents to make mistake. He had also described Dhoni’s tactics as flawed.

Praising Virender Sehwag as a “positive cricketer”, Waugh expressed hope that the stand-in skipper can inject some aggressiveness in the team in the absence of the regular captain. “With Dhoni banned for Adelaide, I hope the stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag injects some zest in the current side. Sehwag as a batsman plays the main role in India’s success and most often we have seen that it’s when he performs India are at the top and his not coming good has been one of the chief reasons for India’s debacle. He is a positive cricketer and I hope he scripts a memorable fight back for his team, which Indian sides have done in the past.”

Mark Waugh represented Australia in international cricket from 1991 to 2002. In that period, he played 128 tests and 244 ODIs. Waugh is regarded as one of the most elegant and gifted stroke makers to ever play the game.