Sourav 'Dada' Ganguly vs ‘Captain Cool’ Dhoni: Who’s the better leader? (Part 2)

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, like Sourav Ganguly, has backed his players to perform for him

After taking on Ganguly’s case in Part 1, the debate continues…

Building an empire is a different thing, but taking it to new heights is entirely different. Ricky Ponting took over an already world class side from Steve Waugh and won two World Cups and a Champions Trophy, also winning an Ashes 5-0. However, people are still critical of his captaincy and say that he led a world class team molded by predecessor Waugh. He doesn’t quite get the credit for being a great captain.

Same is the case with MS Dhoni. Having won every major ICC tournament and being the only captain to have done so, the Jharkhand lad has established himself as the most successful Indian captain. However, he still gets serious competition from Sourav Ganguly to be labeled as India’s best ever captain. Critics still consider luck to be a major factor in his dream run and as in Ponting’s case, credit Ganguly with building the team that Dhoni captains today. However, as I said earlier, building an empire is a different thing, but taking it to new heights is entirely different…

MS Dhoni

Making his debut against Bangladesh in December 2004, the-then long haired Dhoni was picked for the tour after some impressive performances for India A. He earned instant fame with breathtaking knocks of 148 off 123 balls and 183 off 145 balls, both in 2005 against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively. The cricket-crazy India had found its’ new hero and Dhoni’s long hair became a national phenomenon.

Over the course of the next couple of years, he solidified his position in the team and was named vice-captain to Rahul Dravid for the ODI series against South Africa and England in 2007. His fairytale run started when Dhoni was named captain of the Indian team for the inaugural World Twenty in South Africa in 2007. Defying all expectations, he led India to victory in the tournament and was soon appointed India’s ODI captain.

He established himself as a premier one-day batsman and after transitional captaincy stints of Dravid and Anil Kumble, the baton was fully handed to him. Under him the team scaled new heights and won their very first CB Series in Australia by blanking the hosts 2-0 in the finals. They also avenged their loss in the 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy by defeating the Australians 2-0 at home, with both victories coming under Dhoni’s leadership who was then vice-captain.

Under him, the Indian team also became the no.1 Test team for the first time in their history in December 2009. The peak of his captaincy came when he led India to their second World Cup triumph in 2011, leading from the front in the final against Sri Lanka. This prompted even Sachin Tendulkar to call Dhoni the “best captain I have ever played under”. He also led India to a 4-0 whitewash of Australia and won the recent Champions Trophy.

Apart from all his international accolades, Dhoni’s franchise Chennai Super Kings have been two-times IPL champions and three-times runners-up, and also have a Champions League T20 title to their name, thus making them the most successful IPL franchise.

Dhoni has had his share of big failures. After winning the inaugural World T20, the team failed to progress past the Super 6 stage in the next three editions of the tournament and was eliminated from the group stages of the 2009 Champions Trophy. In 2011-12, after the high of winning the World Cup, the team went on an eight-Test winless run in England and Australia, failing to win even a single match across all three formats in England. Losing the first bilateral one-day series in five years against arch-rivals Pakistan, at home in December 2012, was another high-profile failure.

Dhoni has inculcated a democratic set-up in the dressing room, encouraging players to voice their opinion, which has helped the confidence of the youngsters in the team

Despite all these failures, “Mahi’s” captaincy record is simply phenomenal. Winning all three major ICC tournaments is no small feat. People say that he took over a team brought up by Ganguly, but while Ganguly had players like Sachin, Dravid, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Kumble et al. in his ranks, Dhoni has youngsters like Raina, Kohli, Dhawan and Jadeja at his disposal.

A player like Gautam Gambhir, who made his debut in 2004, and the newest sensation Kohli have both flourished under Dhoni. True, when India lifted the World Cup in 2011, players who played under Dada, played integral roles in the triumph. But how can you ignore the contributions of the youngsters-Virat’s debut World Cup century, Raina’s cameo against Pakistan and Gambhir’s 97 in the final and to top it up, Dhoni’s match-winning 91. It was a total team effort all right, but Mahi was the glue that kept the team together.

Critics have also accused him of being hungry to hog the limelight, as they pointed out when he promoted himself up the batting order in that final, despite being terribly out of form. Well, tell me how many players will have the guts to do so and that too in a World Cup final? He has been called extremely lucky. True, it was pure luck that both Joginder and Ishant Sharma delivered. Having faith in all his players, no matter what the circumstances, is another Dhoni hallmark. Again, how many captains would have had guts to go to players like the Sharmas to deliver in such crunch situations?

Unlike Ganguly, Dhoni is a cool customer, rightly called “Captain Cool”. Barring the odd occasion, he is seldom seen shouting at his players. He is more a friend to his players than their captain. He always backs them as well, case in point being “Sir” Ravindra Jadeja and “Maggi Legend” Rohit Sharma. Jadeja and Rohit have always been labeled as Dhoni’s favorites. People used to openly ridicule them. But after his Champions Trophy exploits, how many of us are actually laughing at “Sir”? Even “Maggi Legend” has gone on to form a successful opening partnership with Dhawan in ODIs.

On some other notes, unlike Dada, Mahi’s batting form as captain has been consistent overall and excellent in ODIs. He also has a knack of playing crucial knocks at crucial times, be it the one in World Cup final for India or the one for CSK in IPL 2010 against Punjab that saved them from elimination. He is also a superb athlete unlike Ganguly, who was a notorious runner and poor fielder. Some sporting gestures on his part include taking back Ian Bell’s dismissal in 2011, letting Ganguly lead the team during the final moments of his last Test and letting his boys celebrate with the Champions Trophy and fading into background when they celebrated the win. Last but not the least, it was Ganguly who instilled much needed aggressiveness in Indian cricket, but it is Dhoni’s team who has taken it to a whole new level.

The former ticket collector and goalkeeper-turned wicketkeeper has indeed come a long way from being the long-haired debutant to brand Dhoni that he is today. Sourav Ganguly revived the fortunes of Indian cricket but it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni who took it to heights never seen before. I may not be a big Dhoni fan but I sure respect him.

Thus, in my book, Dhoni beats Ganguly as India’s best ever captain, and by a mile.

Captaincy Record

Tests (2008-):

Venue	Matches	Won	Lost	Draw
Home	28	19	3	6
Away	19	5	9	5
Total	47	24	12	11

ODIs (2007-):

Venue	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	No Result
Home	51	31	17	1	2
Away+Neutral	94	56	30	2	6
Total	145	87	47	3	8

T20Is (2007-):

Venue	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	No Result
Home	9	4	5	0	0
Away+Neutral	32	16	14	1	1
Total	41	20	19	1	1

Don’t miss the Part 1 of the debate – Sourav ‘Dada’ Ganguly vs ‘Captain Cool’ Dhoni: Who’s the better leader?