Dhoni has his share
of followers and critics. Most of his critics focus on his unconventional style
of batting and say his captaincy is all about fluke. I have watched him live in
an IPL match and felt that his shots are not at all elegant though it fetches
runs. I agree that his batting will definitely not please the purists but the point I want
to discuss is about his leadership. Do all his decisions boil down to fluke or
are they all rewards for cool thinking under pressure?
Captain Cool
Indians are used to
watching emotional people like Ganguly as captain of the team. Shouting on the
field was considered as aggression. When a phlegmatic Dhoni took upon the
reins, he showed to the world how a cool headed leader can calm the nerves of
his team mates and take them to victory.
Dhoni himself has
told that a captain should not show emotions on the field:
“You have to look
calm and cool because when you walk up to a bowler to boost him, you can't have
a worried look on your face. That certainly won't help his confidence. A
captain has to be emotionless, especially when he has to ask his bowlers and
fielders to do certain things on the field. Deep down, however, you may be
worried about your bowling changes and about your plans coming unstuck too.”
Impressed with this
coolness under pressure, Steve Waugh, one of the most successful captains ever,
tells that Kohli has to learn from Dhoni and keep his emotions in check.
Gut feeling or Flashes in the pan?
Lots have been
talked about Dhoni’s decision to make useless bowlers like Joginder Sharma to
bowl the final over in 2007 World T20 final and win. I still remember the
dialogue my friend told when Joginder was called to bowl instead of Harbhajan “he
looks like a guy going to sell pani puris. How on earth is this guy going to
win us the match?” Dhoni just went with his instincts that pace will be better
than spin for final over and it clicked.
Similarly the
decision to bowl Ishant Sharma the 18th over in Champions trophy
final against England paid off. That decision was taken inspite of Ishant being
expensive in his previous overs.
During 2015 ODI worldcup, Dhoni was asked who has the best bowling lineup. He simply told that doesn't matter because he needs to work with what he got and no point in thinking about what is not there. The above are examples of considering the match situation and using the options available.
During 2015 ODI worldcup, Dhoni was asked who has the best bowling lineup. He simply told that doesn't matter because he needs to work with what he got and no point in thinking about what is not there. The above are examples of considering the match situation and using the options available.
There have been
times when his decisions have gone wrong and he has admitted them openly that
he just went with the options he had. For instance asking Ishant Sharma to bowl
at the death and paying the price for it. Dhoni told that Vinay Kumar, the
other pace bowler at that time also got hit for runs so he just tried Ishant.
Sometimes gut feeling works and sometimes it doesn’t. That’s the way it is –
sports is unpredictable. But a smart captain will try to bring victory by trying different things rather
than going with the tried and tested methods.
His gut feeling is
not without any basis. For instance in the just concluded T20 worldcup, in THAT
final over of Hardik Pandya against Bangladesh, he knew the bowler’s strength was
to bowl bouncers. He also knew that Yorkers could end up as full tosses. So he
asked Hardik to focus on his strength and the rest is history.
Presence of mind
In the same over of
Hardik Pandya, Dhoni anticipated the bye in the last delivery and kept his
gloves removed before the ball was bowled. He also ran and broke the stumps
instead of throwing thus avoiding overthrow/miss. This might be ordinary thing
to do but under pressure he had the presence of mind to think all these.
He cheekily remarked
after that match that once the final over starts he can take all the time in
the world because a captain cannot be fined. This is also something that won’t occur
to many under pressure situations.
In IPL, I have seen
him waiting for the batsman to cross over and then break the stumps for run-out
so that the weaker batsman stays and the stronger batsman loses his wicket.
Again this is something that will occur only to a person who is cool-headed.
Small but significant gestures
Dhoni has shown
gestures like letting Dada do the captaincy during his last test on the last
day. He always lets his teammates to bask in glory and stands behind when they
win any cup.
He gives all the
credit to his teammates when they win. If you put yourselves in the shoes of a team
member, all these gestures are small things but very valuable.
In the opinion of teammates
Sachin and Dravid
have told that Dhoni is the best captain they have played under. Lastly, as
Ganguly himself has put it ‘Nobody is perfect. MS Dhoni has been great’!
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