Customs are that you can never predict where Indian cricket would be headed. Just days after rolling in the mud, one comprehensive defeat after the other, MS Dhoni's blue boys pull off a historic never-before Test series whitewash against the cricketing superpowers Australia. It doesn't take much to realize how unusual this is - the last and only time Australia lost a Test series 4-0 was in South Africa, way back in 1969-70 under Bill Lawry; and India has never in history won all Tests in a tour. Bill Lawry later gave way to the effervescent Ian Chappell as captain of the Australian team. But although Michael Clarke's place in the side isn't under scrutiny in this case (in fact, he's probably the only one whose place is for certain after this tour), his Indian counterpart has ticked off most of the tasks put in front of him after a horrible end to 2012.
At the start of this tour, Dhoni had headaches everywhere - his openers were withering, his middle order was brittle and his famed spin cupboard was looking bare. Gambhir and Sehwag were living on past glory and there seemed to be no replacements to them. In a brave move, the selectors decided to omit Gautam Gambhir and brought in Murali Vijay in his place. The Tamil Nadu mainstay stumbled in the first game and it seemed like India's top-order woes would never end. Cheteshwar Pujara, meanwhile, was settling in to the all important No. 3 slot and was doing reasonably well. But come Hyderabad and Murali Vijay reinvented himself, piling on 370 runs in a massive partnership alongside Pujara, even as Sehwag continued to choke. Vijay's new-found confidence gave the selectors the leverage they needed to now bench Virender Sehwag himself. In his place came another Delhi boy, Shikhar Dhawan. Coming in at the age of 27, Dhawan was not what you would call a "young man" in general. He was one of those people waiting outside the side, kept away by heavy names. In Mohali, Dhawan created history with a fiery 187, flaying the hapless Australian side in what was the fastest Test century by a debutant in history. The top three were now settled and Tendulkar's fading sheen was less noticeable with Vijay and Pujara virtually finishing off each match together. Yet, every time Vijay and Pujara got out, the middle order seemed to subside, with the exception of MS Dhoni's 224 in Chennai - a mercenary's brute innings that wounded the collective Aussie psyche irreparably.
Bowling was the woe against England. Trusting India's age-old talent in producing trendsetting spinners, Dhoni laid out dustbowls against the English everywhere, from Mumbai to Kolkata. In a classic case of irony, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar outbowled Ravichandran Ashwin and gang. There seemed to be a need to sort out Ashwin's many technical downfalls. When the Aussies came, he had transformed himself - bowling with far more flight and guile than ever before. Ravindra Jadeja for his part proved a revelation with subtle variations between the one that spun and the one that didn't. In fact, he was so very effective that by the end of the tour, Harbhajan Singh was made rather obsolete! The swing of Bhuvneshwar Kumar came in handy every now and then too. Yet, pace bowling remains Dhoni's biggest headache ahead of more overseas cricket.
Despite the gaps in the middle order and question marks over pace bowling, MS Dhoni seems to have done what he needed to do following repeated failures - to identify a pool of players and persist with them. Dhoni decided to persist with Ashwin, Jadeja and Vijay and reaped rewards against a crumbling opposition. In many ways, MS Dhoni seems to remind me of Imran Khan, the headmaster-like World Cup winning captain of Pakistan. Like Dhoni, Imran Khan too thrived as captain when at the helm of a team of youngsters where all were below him and none above. He proved instrumental in building the legendary careers of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shahid Afridi and Inzamam-ul-Haq. Now that Dhoni has identified his team, maybe he can build a few legendary careers himself too!
 |
| Blue Boys of New: Dhoni seems to have found his team |
Bowling was the woe against England. Trusting India's age-old talent in producing trendsetting spinners, Dhoni laid out dustbowls against the English everywhere, from Mumbai to Kolkata. In a classic case of irony, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar outbowled Ravichandran Ashwin and gang. There seemed to be a need to sort out Ashwin's many technical downfalls. When the Aussies came, he had transformed himself - bowling with far more flight and guile than ever before. Ravindra Jadeja for his part proved a revelation with subtle variations between the one that spun and the one that didn't. In fact, he was so very effective that by the end of the tour, Harbhajan Singh was made rather obsolete! The swing of Bhuvneshwar Kumar came in handy every now and then too. Yet, pace bowling remains Dhoni's biggest headache ahead of more overseas cricket.
Despite the gaps in the middle order and question marks over pace bowling, MS Dhoni seems to have done what he needed to do following repeated failures - to identify a pool of players and persist with them. Dhoni decided to persist with Ashwin, Jadeja and Vijay and reaped rewards against a crumbling opposition. In many ways, MS Dhoni seems to remind me of Imran Khan, the headmaster-like World Cup winning captain of Pakistan. Like Dhoni, Imran Khan too thrived as captain when at the helm of a team of youngsters where all were below him and none above. He proved instrumental in building the legendary careers of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shahid Afridi and Inzamam-ul-Haq. Now that Dhoni has identified his team, maybe he can build a few legendary careers himself too!
No comments:
Post a Comment