IPL 2016: Rating the captaincy of the IPL skippers so far

MS Dhoni (Rising Pune Supergiants)

If Suresh Raina has been flying high in his debut season as a captain, his former CSK skipper, MS Dhoni is now suffering from contrasting fortunes. The Rising Pune Supergiants have lost 4 out of their 5 matches and are now languishing near the bottom of the table.

Dhoni and Fleming, the partnership that brought CSK so much success over the years, have not been able to replicate the magic so far. And as usual, MS Dhoni is at the receiving end of criticism. He has not performed wonders with the bat so far and has failed to lead from the front.

Moreover, the failures come at a time when Dhoni's captaincy has been repeatedly questioned. Critics have said that Dhoni reacts to situations and does not indulge in pro-active decision-makings. At times, he just lets the game drift. But would it be fair to ask Dhoni to shoulder all the blame for his team's abysmal form so far?

The RPSG are guilty of having too many one-dimensional top order batsmen who are not sloggers per se. Combine that with the fact that their bowling form has been woeful of late and they do not look like a strong side anymore.

Kevin Pietersen, who was effusive in his praise for Dhoni's captaincy also refused to place the blame on him squarely. In his words, every player must captain himself and take responsibility for the performances.

"I actually think that the eleven that take the field have to captain themselves. They have got a responsibility to MS and the coaches to captain themselves and the team. So there might be four 'C's next to certain names in the team but I actually think that in T20 cricket, where every ball is an event, everyone is captain," he said.

Dhoni's captaincy has not been world-class with no out of the box thinking so far. But his team has also let him down.

Rating: 5.5/10