Much has been spoken on Dhoni's retirement from tests and there is something which both the fanboys and the haters have to understand!
MS Dhoni was "one of the best" captains and "the best" wicketkeeper batsman India has ever produced. And as a cricket fan who has closely followed his career, there are a few things which need to be highlighted!
Firstly and most importantly, after Dhoni, we go back to that age when if the Sahas and Karthiks make an odd 30 or 40, we will be more than happy! But, with Dhoni at crease, we always expected more. We expected him to score a 50, score a 100, bat with tailenders, save the test match after the trademark Indian top order collapse. All that has been so ingrained in our minds that it will take some time and grit on Kohli's part to groom another Dhoni (the wicket keeper batsman). He has saved us enough tests and he has taken us out of many sticky situations in the past to prove his mettle in this field. He was not able to contribute to this part for quite some time as he was going through a long, dry spell and hence, retiring was the logical step.
Now, coming to the MS Dhoni- the captain. There are 2 sub-parts here. Dhoni the home skipper and the away skipper. The home skipper was like a lion in his den. He knew the grounds, the conditions, his team's strengths and weaknesses and stuck to the basics - make turning tracks, post big totals, bombard opposition with spin!" which worked for the team! But, the away skipper was sometimes like a deer caught in front of headlights. India's bowling never had or even has till now the tooth to take 20 wickets in Australia, South Africa and England. We haven't got a genuine away wicket taking bowler after Zaheer and that is not completely Dhoni's fault -the Ishants and Sreesanths did not click always. They had those sporadic moments of glory, but consistency eluded them! Since Dhoni understood that it will be really difficult to take 20 wickets, he changed his strategy and became very defensive. He understood that a 2-0 loss is better than 4-0 loss! But, in doing that, more often than not, he still lost away tests. His team selections were biased - keeping Rohit Sharma and Jadeja in for god knows how long!
Coming to his retirement, yes, it was odd, and a surprise/shock to all cricket fans. On one hand, fanboys will say that he did the right decision. He understood that he could not contribute more and giving Kohli the baton made perfect sense. On other hand, critics will say Dhoni abandoned his team, he was self-centric and he could have waited till the end of the series. But, one thing we are missing is a simple point - Dhoni is human, he is 33 and his body had started breaking up after the huge number of matches he has played. The logical decision is always to quit the form of cricket you are least natural into. Everyone would agree that Dhoni is a natural ODI cricketer and not a natural Test cricketer! So, quitting Tests makes sense. It is a highly impulsive, personal decision, one may or may not have been thought through by him completely.
In a nutshell, like Dada, Dhoni was a person who brought out conflicting emotions in people. He was not like Dravid and Kumble whom no body hated! Yes, like Dada, he too believed in getting his team right, even if senior team members got hurt to the point that people brandished him as an arrogant, biased captain. But, it also had another side - he was okay with failures, he kept his head cool and understood that he has Indian sport's toughest job! That was Dhoni, the test cricketer, a person who brought the tribal eastern state on cricket's national map, understood how difficult it is for small town players to make it big in Tests, changed his natural game to fit into Tests, who kept wickets for 1 and half days and then carried people's expectations of making a 100 with tailenders after a batting collapse and finally a good test captain with a knack of going defensive away with debatable actions!
Cheers to Dhoni and hope he gets us the World Cup again!
P.S. - I wrote this as a Facebook status on my timeline on New Year's Eve.
MS Dhoni was "one of the best" captains and "the best" wicketkeeper batsman India has ever produced. And as a cricket fan who has closely followed his career, there are a few things which need to be highlighted!
Firstly and most importantly, after Dhoni, we go back to that age when if the Sahas and Karthiks make an odd 30 or 40, we will be more than happy! But, with Dhoni at crease, we always expected more. We expected him to score a 50, score a 100, bat with tailenders, save the test match after the trademark Indian top order collapse. All that has been so ingrained in our minds that it will take some time and grit on Kohli's part to groom another Dhoni (the wicket keeper batsman). He has saved us enough tests and he has taken us out of many sticky situations in the past to prove his mettle in this field. He was not able to contribute to this part for quite some time as he was going through a long, dry spell and hence, retiring was the logical step.
Now, coming to the MS Dhoni- the captain. There are 2 sub-parts here. Dhoni the home skipper and the away skipper. The home skipper was like a lion in his den. He knew the grounds, the conditions, his team's strengths and weaknesses and stuck to the basics - make turning tracks, post big totals, bombard opposition with spin!" which worked for the team! But, the away skipper was sometimes like a deer caught in front of headlights. India's bowling never had or even has till now the tooth to take 20 wickets in Australia, South Africa and England. We haven't got a genuine away wicket taking bowler after Zaheer and that is not completely Dhoni's fault -the Ishants and Sreesanths did not click always. They had those sporadic moments of glory, but consistency eluded them! Since Dhoni understood that it will be really difficult to take 20 wickets, he changed his strategy and became very defensive. He understood that a 2-0 loss is better than 4-0 loss! But, in doing that, more often than not, he still lost away tests. His team selections were biased - keeping Rohit Sharma and Jadeja in for god knows how long!
Coming to his retirement, yes, it was odd, and a surprise/shock to all cricket fans. On one hand, fanboys will say that he did the right decision. He understood that he could not contribute more and giving Kohli the baton made perfect sense. On other hand, critics will say Dhoni abandoned his team, he was self-centric and he could have waited till the end of the series. But, one thing we are missing is a simple point - Dhoni is human, he is 33 and his body had started breaking up after the huge number of matches he has played. The logical decision is always to quit the form of cricket you are least natural into. Everyone would agree that Dhoni is a natural ODI cricketer and not a natural Test cricketer! So, quitting Tests makes sense. It is a highly impulsive, personal decision, one may or may not have been thought through by him completely.
In a nutshell, like Dada, Dhoni was a person who brought out conflicting emotions in people. He was not like Dravid and Kumble whom no body hated! Yes, like Dada, he too believed in getting his team right, even if senior team members got hurt to the point that people brandished him as an arrogant, biased captain. But, it also had another side - he was okay with failures, he kept his head cool and understood that he has Indian sport's toughest job! That was Dhoni, the test cricketer, a person who brought the tribal eastern state on cricket's national map, understood how difficult it is for small town players to make it big in Tests, changed his natural game to fit into Tests, who kept wickets for 1 and half days and then carried people's expectations of making a 100 with tailenders after a batting collapse and finally a good test captain with a knack of going defensive away with debatable actions!
Cheers to Dhoni and hope he gets us the World Cup again!
P.S. - I wrote this as a Facebook status on my timeline on New Year's Eve.
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