In his book The Art of Captaincy, Mike Brearley writes: “..cricket captains do not have the luxury of being elevated above the activity of those they lead. It is easier for a football manager to ‘play God’, to read the riot act to the players, because he does not have to perform himself.”
The number of calls for a losing captain’s head after a series is well-chronicled. None knows this better than the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The criticism he attracts in the longer format of the sport is not without reason, but the censure has spilled over into shorter versions of the game, too.
Although India isn’t invincible in One Day Internationals or T20s, evident during a bilateral series away, they are a different unit in ICC tournaments. They are always “in the zone”, oblivious to everything around them.
With a six-wicket win over Zimbabwe, they’ve now won ten consecutive World Cup fixtures — a feat second only to Ponting’s Australian side that notched 24 straight wins in the coveted tournament. It’d be naive to make a prediction considering the fickle nature of the knockouts, but India look set to make yet another final — an unthinkable scenario just a month ago, especially during the phase between the conclusion of the Australian series and commencement of the World Cup.
India’s turn of fortunes
This turnaround is intriguing. The ink’s not dry yet on columns suggesting the ousting of opener Shikhar Dhawan. In the Carlton Mid One Day International tri-series, he scored 49 runs at an average of 12.25. His numbers before that weren’t flattering either. India’s bowling was considered non-threatening; its bowlers opposition’s best friends. In the aforesaid tri-series, India’s best bowler was Stuart Binny. With four wickets from three games, he was ninth in the overall list of the tournament’s best bowlers. The batting order was unsettled and the bowling spineless. With that shambolic backdrop, India, one presumed, didn’t stand a chance.
The warm-up fixtures painted a similar portrait. It was perceived that India’s campaign would stretch as far as the quarter-final, for the tournament’s setup made allowance for that. Yet, the perceptions flipped post the game against Pakistan. India outplayed their arch-rivals and brushed off bad form like it never existed. The top-order flourished, oblivious to the rust that formed in days preceding the World Cup, and the bowlers wreaked havoc against expectations. As the erudite Rahul Dravid recently said, the rise in bowlers’ form has given India a new dimension.
What caused this remarkable volte-face in the bowlers’ attitude? They’ve now bagged a perfect score of 60 wickets from six games. Perhaps after four rigorous months Down Under, they’ve finally adapted to the conditions. But if that indeed was the case, what explains their surge during the Champions Trophy in England in 2013; or the ICC World T20? Surely, they didn’t spend close to four months adapting to conditions before these tournaments.
Go back in time and you will notice that although India boasted a robust batting unit during their victorious 2011 World Cup and 2007 World T20 campaigns, it would not have been without the uncharacteristic grit exhibited by its unseeded bowling attack — one that would often be lukewarm before a global tourney.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni — the protagonist
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has had a major role to play in the resurgence that occurs during ICC events. There is no doubting his deftness in understanding the tactical nuances involved in limited-overs cricket. With a tunnel vision that circumvents everything else, he is a semblance of calm, exhibiting a sense of control that intensifies when it matters most, which is perhaps unmatched amongst his counterparts.
This appears to rub off on his entourage. Out-of-form batsmen break free from the clutches, trying to repay the captain’s faith on a podium constantly scrutinized by millions. Bowlers turn resolute and adhere to plans. Dhawan is currently India’s leading runscorer in this World Cup, just like he was in the Champions Trophy two years ago. Mohammed Shami, with fifteen wickets to his name, is just one behind Mitchell Starc — the leading scalp-taker.
It would have been easy to fall back upon shelved, experienced individuals when the likes of Dhawan and Shami were struggling. Nonetheless, Dhoni opts for the tough choice of sticking with them. And the tough choices seem to be paying off, like they always do. Not only does Dhoni back individuals, he propels them into ‘the zone’. He prods them to get the ‘one percenters’ right. In Shami’s own words: “I am lucky that all my debuts—Tests, one-dayers, Twenty20s — all have come under Dhoni and the way he handles things looks good to me. He keeps me tension-free and never says anything about mistakes, he never gets angry and gives me peace. He talks in a smooth manner and it is good for a bowler that the captain backs him and that’s the biggest plus for me.”
Captaincy was thrust on Dhoni at an early juncture and that appears to be paying rich dividends. “I feel the same pressure as anyone else. It’s just that I have been in those situations a lot, so I know how to get out of that situation,” Dhoni recently said at a press-conference.
“[The captain] is the one who leads the rest out of the pavilion, and who then, by nodding his head or pointing his arm, manipulates them on the field. His task is tactical, his decisions immediate and short-term. On his performance in this sphere he is judged,” writes Brearley in the same book.
Considering India’s success rate in ICC events of late, in games that matter, there is little doubt how Dhoni will be judged.
