Dhoni needs to be dropped from test team with immediate effects , Why ?? A simple answer to this is No Test captain has ever survived 0-8 loss. In hindsight , it should have been done three years ago. But at that time ageing batting line-up bore the brunt of failure and Dhoni got benefit of doubt. It was expected that with young and fresh blood he would be able to deliver better. Fast forward three years and I dont see iota of improvement in mindset of Indian test team on foreign tour. Though Complete batting lineup and bowling lineup got overhauled . Only constant among these tour is Dhoni and he got the players of his liking. Results - India behind by 1-2 against a struggling team who has not won a test in their last 10 attempts before the start of the series . Defeat never bothers us fans .I am a 90s kid. I was born and brought up in a era where nothing much was expected from team India on foreign test tour. Still there were few sparkling individual batting efforts which brought smiles to our faces .Its the manner of defeat which is most heartbreaking . The performance at Manchester was the gutless, spineless performance I have ever seen from any top test cricketing nation. Few days back, even Zimbabwe put a spirited performance against Steyn and company . This piece is no way trying to entirely put the blame of recent defeats on Dhonis shoulder .I agree It was a collective failure of Team India , batting and bowling failed as a unit. But the guy who is most responsible for all these defeats is our captain cool MS Dhoni and if India wants to fare better in coming foreign tours he needs to go not only as a captain , but also as a test cricketer. 1) Dhoni is not a test standard wicketkeeper . He is a good wicket keeper when standing up against spinner in limited over matches. He is quick and effects very good stumpings, But in Test crickets , Batsmen hardly take charge against spinners .So he is not that effective in tests. I never saw him going for the low catches in front of slip or even try to grab the edges flying through him and first slip . And off late he started dropping sharp nicks from spinners . 2) Test Batsmen - He always was an average test batsmen in foreign conditions. The way he plays , gives an impression of walking wicket. It only adds to the confidence of opposition bowlers. His batting cant be relied upon. Agreed he has played few gritty innings amidst the chaos, But overall he is a mediocre test batsmen. He was good choice few years back when there was no good alternative. But now I see there are few good keeper-batsmen knocking the test team doors. the like of CM Gautam and Saha atleast deserved to be tried at Test level. 3) And dont let me started on Dhoni the Test captain. The most frustrating part is the excuses he gives after the defeat .a loss is loss, it doesnt matter you suffered a defeat within 3 days or 5 days. , You die , you die , doesnt matter which way you die. He often says I dont care about results as long as the process is right, but I think his overall process itself is wrong. He relies mostly on luck and knows only one plan throw the batsmen off foot with surprise Random changes or set a defensive field to stop runs . Well, that can work in limited overs cricket where batsmen are in hurry to score runs but not likely to work in Test cricket where batsmen have all the time in world to get set and score runs. He is the worst test captain along with Cook among current test captains. Let me give you few examples . • Deploying leg slip - l have rarely seen Leg slip deployed against fast bowler and trust me I have seen lot of test cricket, apparently with this field he is asking his bowler to bowl a bad ball down leg and hoping that batsmen makes sweet connection and with some good luck the ball will drop in the hands of fielder standing at leg slip. Here he is completely relying on luck. • Batsman played a square cut for a boundary , Move the point fielder to Deep point . Batsmen hit spinner straight over the top, Here goes mid on to long on. Thick edge went between slip and gully, third slip moved back to third man. Opposition seven down, spread the field and give easy single to the set batsmen and attack only the new batsmen (with leg slip and two short midwickets). Opposition has partnership of 70-80 runs and He starts playing waiting game , gives the ball to Jadeja and ask him to throw darts with 5-4 leg side field. • Starting with the part timer after the break - all the batsmen, no matter what score they are at, are bit tentative while resuming the game just after the break. Bowling team should always start with their best bowlers. But here also Dhoni loses key moments with his baffling decisions. I still remember the day during 2011 England tour . In one of the test match, England didnt have much lead and they were six down and after the Tea break Dhoni started with Raina and England went on to pile up runs. I thought he learned from mistakes . But again I see him committing same mistake over and over. Recent example - At the start of third day of last test, He starts the bowling with a spinner against lower order batsmen when the conditions were most conducive to swing bowling. This is never in Test cricket captaincy coaching manual . Dont know which baba he refers to for luck . There is a feeling that there is no alternative captain for India. But it has to start from somewhere .I think Ashwin can replace him as test captain for time being and CM Gautam/Saha can be tried as test keeper . Dhoni is an asset for Indias ODI side . We cant afford to lose him from limited over cricket teams, specially when the world cup is just 5 months away. Its high time Indian selector drop him from Test team or better he himself gives up from Test Roles.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 18:07:20 +0000
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