MS Dhoni: The Dark Knight of Indian Cricket

Does he really deserve the hate he’s getting or is he taking the fall for someone else?

If you were to stop at the first crowd you see and point at ten random people, it is highly likely that at least nine of them would be Dhoni haters. Such is the hate that is seething around the country against the Indian skipper these days. India’s current form doesn’t exactly help ameliorate the situation. It has been a season of many firsts for India, but not many that they would be proud of. First home Test series loss to England after 29 years and first bilateral home series loss in more than three years are some events that Indian Cricket fans aren’t going to forget in a hurry. In their moment of anguish, they need a scapegoat to vent out the frustration of their team’s failure. And whom do they choose? The only guy that helped save some face and avoid complete humiliation. I guess it saves the haters some time and effort to have a guy called Dhoni, who in an open press conference states “I would love to be the punching bag”. To all Dhoni haters out there, here is something for you to mull over before blindly spouting hate the next time.

Let us rewind the clocks a couple of years – bringing home the much awaited second world cup title and attaining the ever elusive number one Test ranking, culminated a superb run for India from earlier seasons. This period will go down in the annals as a definitive high point for Indian Cricket. The Indian team was oozing young talent, and the once non-existent bench was replaced by an abundant pool of young promise eagerly waiting for an opportunity to don the Indian cap. So, where did we go wrong? What changed so drastically that we lost our way to end up here? Did the Indian skipper lose his Midas touch (as they’ve taken to calling it)? Is there a rift in the Indian team? Before we get ahead of ourselves and start playing the blame game, let us look at a few facts.

Dhoni’s captaincy is too defensive and he tries ridiculous tactics, you say? Isn’t it the same defensive captaincy and the same ridiculous (read “inspirational”) tactics that won us both the limited over world cups? When he tossed the ball to Virat asking him to have a bowl at a critical juncture, it is no more or no less “ridiculous” than his asking Joginder Sharma to bowl in the climactic over of the T20 world-cup final, both instances being against Pakistan. He always played it pretty close to the chest, always coming from behind to take it away from the opposition at the last moment. Why then are the same people who hailed him as Captain Cool and said that he’s coldly calculating, now disparaging him as being disinterested on the field and too defensive? Why is it that his tactics, which were seen as his virtues, are being held as his vices now?

No, it is not him or his captaincy that has changed. If one were looking for changes that led to our current predicament, Dhoni’s captaincy would be the last place they should be looking for. His manner is as steadfast and unchanging as his stoic demeanor. One must however be blind not to notice the drastic personnel changes in team India – that coach Gary Kirsten’s (quite successful) term ended; that Sachin, Dravid and Laxman, three legends of contemporary international Cricket have retired in a span of a couple of years. Over the years, these three titans have grown to be the pillars of Indian top-order, holding together the batting structure of the Indian team. It is the support of these pillars that allowed the relatively young Indian middle order evolve and integrate into the structure. When you suddenly remove these three pillars, is it really rocket science to figure out why the structure is suddenly swaying?

Dhoni doesn’t deserve an ODI spot you say? I’ll let the figures have the first word. With over 250 catches and stumpings under his belt, he’s undoubtedly among the best wicket-keeper batsmen limited-over Cricket has ever seen. A total of 1342 runs amassed in the last two years at an average of over 60 (16 out of those 37 times not out), he’s the best finisher we’ve ever had. Yes, he’s not your text-book cricketer with classy shots. Yes, his unorthodox style of batting looks crass and awkward. But, he is a gritty and enterprising cricketer whose performance only gets better under pressure. Over the past few years, Dhoni might’ve shifted gears with his aggression, but he has shown his quality time and again. The gem of an innings he played under pressure in the 2011 world cup final and the gritty 113 recently against Pakistan when his side was five down for 29 are among the finest of numerous occasions when he pulled his side through with sheer grit. With the top-order lacking solidity, Dhoni is the foundation of the last central pillar holding the rickety Indian batting structure together. Take him away and when the entire structure comes collapsing around him, all you’ll be left with is a pile of rubble in place of what was Indian batting.

Before you accuse him of playing for his average and trying to keep his wicket at any cost, do ponder about this for a moment. Is it really that bad for a player to try to guard his wicket with all he has, in a team with 10 players ready to throw theirs away with inexplicable, unnecessary and mysterious shots? Is it really that bad to be able to bank upon somebody to see the team through? Before you accuse him of being afraid to play up the order and waiting for the situation to be out of reach before trying to salvage it, do ask yourself this – is it wrong for a finisher, whose role is cut out for him, to want to stick to his position and expect the others to try and fulfill theirs? If he did promote himself up the order and gets out to a peach and you’re left stranded without any stability in the middle order, would you blame him for not sticking to his position? In this hour of transition, Indian Cricket is bound to go through turmoil and a lot of blame will be ascribed as one sees fit. But as they say “A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner”. I, for one, hope that we come out of this with eleven. This is an appeal to all the Indian Cricket fans out there; not as an avid fan of Dhoni, but as an avid fan of Indian Cricket – there will come a time when we can look at the Cricket annals and ascribe blame to players. This is not that time, please stop this blame game and stick with the team as it passes through this turbulence. Like Thomas Wayne said to his son from Batman Begins – “Why do we fall Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”