Dhoni's captaincy is safe after his World Cup heroics but he must face the challenge of evolution head on
As he makes the final preparations for tomorrow’s third one-day international against England, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be hoping that his side can restore some pride to what has been a damp squib of a tour compared to the bright rays of excitement that the cricketing world was expecting. A post-mortem should begin with questions asked of his board.
Enough has been written, listened and discussed about India’s abysmal performances since arriving in England a few months ago, after dispatching another South Asian team, Sri Lanka, England stormed to a series whitewash in the Test format before breaking into a 2-0 lead in the 50-over format, an area of their game which is supposed to be the weakest.
One has to sympathise with India, who’ve been left debilitated by injuries to key players – Zaheer Khan the most crucial – but the blame lies just as much on the cricketing bureaucrats in India as it does on captain Dhoni’s head.
On April 2nd, the Mumbai skyline was littered with loud and visually exuberant fire works as India celebrated winning their second World Cup in their history and their poster-boy turned captain Dhoni was the centre of attention, and rightly so. Having been installed captain in 2007 and guided India to becoming world champions in the 20/20 format in the same year, the pinnacle of his captaincy had seen him bring unashamed joy for his fellow Indians by bringing the World Cup back to the sub-continent.
Celebrations for an Indian victory that had previously eluded them for 28 years only lasted ONE week as the majority of the Indian World Cup winning squad were disembarking to different parts of the country to represent their franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
For what seemed an eternity, the Indian players had to quickly re-adjust their minds to playing 20/20 cricket without an opportunity to really come to terms with what they had achieved.
Dhoni, seemed unaware of what his cricketing brain was going through, evident by guiding his Chennai Super Kings to a second successive victory, a sign perhaps that the victory in Mumbai only energised the 30-year-old to gain more medals for his trophy cabinet.
Cricketers, – of all countries – unlike football players, are not in control of their own destiny. They can’t pick and choose which teams to represent whenever they fancy or just because another club offers a bigger pay packet. Mainly because they are representing their countries in this instance but also because central contracts dictate their schedule. The greed of the Indian cricket board to maximise the incoming cash flow through the cricket following of its one billion population has lead to the huge commercialisation of the 20/20 format which was once, a laidback and enjoyable system for players to play in.
At the conclusion of the recent IPL, talk was already brewing in the media of saturation but it remains doubtful whether the board of India will listen to any thought of a break or a reduction in the IPL schedule.
Whether the realisation of losing their Test number one ranking and the growing list of injuries to key players will make the Indian board assess the schedule, and follow England’s example – rotation of star players.
Kevin Pietersen, who racked up 533 runs in the successful Test series, was given a rest from the subsequent one-day internationals. Due to injuries, India don’t have that luxury but had they not had the IPL, would the likes of Khan broken down?
India arrived in England with only one tour game arranged – which was disrupted by the weather – and former captain Saurav Ganguly noted the lack of preparation as a reason for their poor performance.
The lack of game time a possible reason why their main bowler Khan was injured in the first Test and ruled out for the remainder of the tour, whilst his team-mates suffered the saddening fate of injuries ending their tours aswell.
India – their board, cricketers and coaching staff will hope they will be able to restore some pride tomorrow and finish the tour on an uplifting note.
If not, many observers hope that this will kick start a revolution within the upper echelons of Indian management to look critically within themselves, with the end result that their players will be the ones to benefit.
