India's greatest captain: MS Dhoni

If India can be called as land of many religions, then cricket certainly will filter out as the biggest one. Each and every Indian is somehow an integral part of this religion even if he/she appreciates it or not. This incredible status given to this sport is due to its stupendous past on our soil, which has witnessed a prolific entry of legendary players. The greatest of them, and obviously the greatest in the world is none other than the Little Master whose name needs no mention.

But right now I prefer talking about someone else, who has almost equally contributed to the spectacular journey of our country in this sport. Though it was a doubt after the 2007 World Cup win for some people, his place has definitely culminated next to that of the Little Master after the historic 2011 World Cup win. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is certainly one of the finest players and without doubt the best captain the country has ever witnessed. No, this is not a statement made by a fan who blindly treats a World Cup winning captain as God, and places him on a pedestal which no one else can occupy. These are the words of a fan who has very closely followed cricket for a long time.

One of the silliest things anyone can say is that all that Dhoni has done is because of sheer ‘luck’. Luck is obviously a necessity if anyone has to succeed in any field. Luck is something that has famously been defined as something that surfaces when opportunity meets preparation. There is also a class of people who feel it is because of the good team he had that he won. But who has not had a good team in the past? A WC winning team would certainly be made of legends and finest players, but this is only a partial pre-requisite.

A very good captain is always required to lead this team, use them efficiently as resources if that team has to come on top. There is no use of having mere bricks and marble, if you do not have anyone to build a beautiful house using them. All you could have done without that person is just keep them as long as you can and discard them some day. India has always had a great team with enormous talent. How can we ever forget the Ganguly-Tendulkar-Dravidcombination during Azhar’s captaincy, which was later called as the ‘big three’ in Dada’s and Jammy’s time. The 2003 World Cup team was by far the best Indian team ever, in terms of balance and talent according to me.

But there was always something missing. Long before that we had a wonderful and a cool captain in Azharuddin, after whom we had an aggressive fighter in Sourav Ganguly. But MSD is just a perfect combination of both of them, which according to me is the secret of his success on big stages. His amazing ability to soak in pressure and take the attack to the opposition in no time was not possessed by any other captain under a huge canopy of expectations as him. To win a World Cup final for your team chasing a record total in front of a home crowd is no easy task. Not to forget that no other team has chased more than 132 in a similar situation in the earlier editions.

Our own first World Cup win came by defeating the mighty West Indies in the final at Lord’s, in which they succumbed to the pressure of chasing, failing to chase a small target of 183 in 60 overs! Not to forget this was after West Indies had grabbed the previous two titles for themselves pretty easily. Such an act demands stupendous mental toughness, determination and trust in your team mates.

One thing that always goes unnoticed is his keeping abilities. He is right now the 4th highest in terms of number of dismissals involved as a keeper. He also possesses the highest average achieved by any captain, and is among the top 3 in the list of most runs scored in 2nd innings! He is also the only Indian captain to win a series in Australia and draw a series in South Africa, when India were at the helm of ICC Test rankings. One of every captain’s major tasks is to encourage and back youngsters, and MSD is a master of this although he is sometimes heavily criticized for not preferring the senior cricketers.

He has always backed his youngsters in many occasions, be it making Rohit open amid bad form or even promoting Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina up the order. And all of them have succeeded, and succeeded heavily creating records. The recent series against England and Australia at home as well as away have raised questions about his ability, both as a captain and a member of the Test team. But to discard him based on one or two (series) performances is certainly not a wise thing. He has always come back and succeeded under pressure and must be given another chance at least to prove himself.

The Indian team cannot afford to lose his captaincy especially at this time, when almost no player is in the right form or is experienced. His proved leadership qualities are most required now, to restore that hope and expectation that he helped to build, after the void created during 2007 World Cup exit.

Disclaimer: This article is based on the views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Sportskeeda.