Dhoni - an asset or a liability?
This is a controversial topic for many.
The man who has given India two world cups, rose the team to be #1 in Tests from almost nowhere , won us our first and only champions trophy, groomed several players under his watch including the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja among others and not to mention several IPL crowns for the CSK franchise (it’s the most consistent team in IPL history). Cricket, they say is a great leveler - his form is waning, his concentration is on the decline, his instincts with the bat are not the same - why then should he be chosen as our #1 wicket-keeper for the world cup?
A wise man once said, experience is the hair that live gives you when you are bald. Another one said selecting Dhoni or anybody for that matter solely on basis of his reputation is a blemish on his career and even the criterion for selection into any team.
The things one normally looks at when selecting a side are two F’s - Form and Fitness. There shouldn’t be any other criteria.
Sure, he has played more than 320 ODI matches captaining about 200 of those, 90 test matches again as captain for more than half of those, arguably the best finisher the cricketing world has ever seen - and in fact I don’t think anybody thought there was an art called finishing in cricket before him, always was see ball - hit ball towards the end, his instinct for the game, judging match conditions and play according to it, motivate players, literally handhold them in some cases, believing in himself to take the game to the very end, taking tough calls and the list goes on and on and on, much like his career.
Is all of the above the only reason for his selection? Let’s delve more.
What is the core job of a developer? Develop code. What is the core job of a doctor? Well, be good at his job and hopefully cure patients .
Would you ever agree that a core developer must also be good at testing or worse deploying in an environment that he has no knowledge from a compatibility point-of-view?
How about a doctor? So if he’s a neurologist, should he be good at matters of cardio too? Sure, it helps to know a little bit. Cricket though, is a funny game and you have to know more than your core skill. Same is the case with wicket-keeping especially in Indian cricket.
Back in the 90′s, I remember a wicket-keeper’s key role was to be the best wicket-keeper i.e. don’t do anything that gets you noticed negatively. Don’t drop a catch, miss a stumping, don’t concede byes - basically be alert , have strong instincts, be fit and most importantly be reliable as its tough to create chances to get a wicket, missing out is surely unacceptable.
Then came a man called Adam Gilchrist of Australia. He was such an attacking batsman especially in the limited overs version of the game that batting almost became a core skill for any wicket keeper. This is certainly unfair as an extra skill can not and should not be given so much importance. But, you have to agree that one has to change with the changing times and get better to compete with the rest, the competition is surely cut-throat.
Then came another man called Mahendra Singh Dhoni simply called MS in the cricketing fraternity these days - to me that stands for Most Skillful. Gilchrist was an opening batsman and literally killed the bowlers in the first half of the game unlike Dhoni who came in at 6 or sometimes even 7 to simply finish off games.
Before the advent of Dhoni, the art of finishing an innings was unheard of (at least to my knowledge). Sure, there were middle order batsman like Michael Bevan, Ajay Jadeja, Moin Khan, Lance Klusener who did really well closing an innings - if it was the first innings, they gave the ball a good whack towards the end of the innings, seeing the team through when they were batting second. They were known for those things but the role of a finisher wasn’t clearly defined in the sense it was more like the batsman at #6 was merely an extra batsman if the top-order failed, gave the team that extra cushion. Nothing more than that, usually it was a player who could bowl a bit.
The selection of Dhoni was in the season of wicket-keeper selections in India. When Nayan Mongia was left out (nobody still really knows why), we tried several wicket keepers - Saba Karim, Deep Das Gupta, Ajay Ratra, Sameer Dighe, Rahul Dravid (he donned the gloves for a long time), MSK Prasad just to name a few. Thankfully, we haven’t needed anybody since MS.
It must not be forgotten that a wicket-keeper core job is to WICKET-KEEP, not bat or save a team. He is surely expected to be a better batsman than the tail but at best he should be looked upon as a steady reliable batsman who doesn’t throw his wicket away.
Don’t drop catches, be alert behind the stumps, don’t miss stumping opportunities and just be quick and alert. THAT is and will forever remain a wicket-keeper’s core job. The extra shenanigans are always great but who would pick a wicket-keeper who can bat but is poor behind the stumps? This is the reason why Parthiv Patel hasn’t been playing cricket for India on a regular basis.
Age and its natural justice:
As we grow older our reflexes slow down, our mind gets this disease of analyzing everything, is too careful and the fearlessness of youth is gone.
I remember when my kid was two years old, she was trying to grab this metal piece or beach rock from the top cupboard. It was about 4 feet above the bed and she kept climbing my tummy using it as a means to get to it. I wasn’t letting her get there scared that she might end up hurting herself. Was also playing with her just to see if she’ll get there eventually despite the obstacles thrown in her way. She did the same thing over and over again, would put her foot on my tummy and I kept holding her down. She tried different things and kept failing, it got to a point where I gave up unable to cope up with her energy and will. Then, I realized a very simple thing - I had forgotten to never stop trying!
I began to wonder, how did this kid all of two years know never to stop trying. She won, I lost. It is obvious The Creator gave this knowledge to her by default. All of us have it but somehow manage to forget it or just don’t try long and differently enough.
It’s important to do things differently when our tried methods are not working. This comes with experience as long as you don’t give up.
This swash buckling batsman at #6 who won India many many games many many times, who has a record of seeing the team through 9 times out of 10 at his peak in any innings or situation was suddenly failing too often.
His form, the numbers and especially the strike rate saw a huge drop. Almost by half! The naysayers and the naive called for his head and wanted to drop him from the team - they call themselves the realists whose opinions are not formed on emotion, who don’t tempted by Dhoni’s experience, laurels, his history and what he brings to the table. Nope! They are so practical and real that they forget that his role can be altered, his experience can be utilized differently, his instinct and knowledge can be put to use in other areas. His strike rate and instincts have dropped but his core skill of wicket-keeping is getting better and better. His hand-holding of the spinners, his sharp eye behind the stumps enabling him to look at the entire ground, his DRS referrals have been dare I say, 100% accurate. Not 99% but 100%! He says refer, you refer. He says don’t, you just don’t, when he says he’s not sure, it’s better if you don’t unless you somehow had a better angle of what happened.
Innings builder and the reinvention:
In my opinion, the way he is playing these days makes him a perfect fit for #4, surely not above, definitely not below.
What is the role of a #4? Play well in the middle overs, hold one end in a stable manner, let the openers (or #3) play their natural game, play with the lower middle order, the finishers and dictate the innings based on match situation and pitch conditions. Respect the bowler and disrespect when the ball is their to be hit.
Though the margin for a lower strike rate is difficult to digest in the current limited overs setup especially with the advent of T20 cricket, there is still room for that grafter, that player who is reliable, who has that innings-building ability, who promoted himself up the order at #4 when he was captain knowing full well that his finishing prowess was not the same, who wanted to take Indian cricket forward enabling another player to play the finishers role in the build-up to the 2019 world cup. Not a lot of people remember this period (this was just before him quitting the ODI captaincy back in 2015-2016 season), some conveniently forget.
His experience, self awareness, his instinct - that anybody that played with him and watched him play was in awe, his professional nuance made that decision.
The complete package of experience, numbers, ability to reinvent himself - the hair that life gave him when he was bald, the light that his experience provides to the youngsters (even the captain) much like his gray stubble between the very little black hair- is the value Dhoni provides to Indian cricket heading into the 2019 world cup.
Would you drop the absolute best WICKET-KEEPER in the world just because his extra skill is not the same?
Shrewd businessman or an emotional fan - which one are you?
