Who Will Replace Dhoni?
In reply to my last post about firing Dhoni, a few of you have asked, “Who is there to replace Dhoni? There is NO alternative!”
My response is what would you do if Dhoni was injured and out of a year. Would India go with a captain? I don’t think so. We will find someone.
Regardless of Dhoni’s performance of a captain, we have to groom the second tier of leaders in the cricket team. With so many matches (international, IPL) being played today, India cannot afford to have a captain without any backup.
And it has to be a real backup. Not a puppet who is unaware of the strategies and tactics, and doesn’t have a mind of his own.
So let us take the 2011 World Cup which, I presume, is what all Indians cricket fans are looking forward to. It is a watershed event because it will probably mark the end of the Tendulkar era. I don’t think Tendulkar, Dravid and some players in other teams (Murali, Ponting?) will continue beyond that.
We have roughly 18 months to go before that. So what is our Grand Unified Strategy?
What is our core team? Who are the players? What is the backup plan for each of these players in case of injury and lack of form? What are we doing to ensure adequate playing time for the players and their backups, without overburdening them?
Are we planning to launch any special tactics for the World Cup (ala NZ 1992, SL 1996, etc.)? Are we going to pilot them or keep them hidden until the last minute? Will there be special tactics for batting, bowling, fielding or taking advantage of ODI rules (such as Powerplay times)?
What if we cannot execute these tactics effectively or they don’t yield the predicted results? Do we have a conventional plan to fall back upon? This is the most critical part, because if we cannot win by playing conventionally, then we will be blown out of the water by strong teams such as Australia and South Africa. Innovative tactics has to be built upon a team that can still play well otherwise.
What has India done in the last 12 months that gives you the confidence as an Indian cricket fan that India can bring the goods in 2011? My confidence was high at the beginning of the year, but with each passing month, I feel that India is losing its way.
Once again, we have 18 months. Do you think Dhoni can do his job and get the strategy right? Or should we persist with him and then see India keep experimenting with showmanship tactics that do nothing to advance our campaign for the World Cup?
I expected you to throw up a couple of names. Anyway, of course if Dhoni picks up an injury tomorrow, you have to shoehorn someone in his place. But that’s a matter of compulsion and not choice.
The fact remains India has been largely successful under Dhoni and an equal truth is you don’t have an automatic replacement right now. As I said earlier, Sehwag isn’t sure if he wants to lead. And going by his IPL experience, we are not sure how good a captain he would make.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a system like Australia has where they groomed Michael Clarke to take over the captaincy reins from Ponting. They spotted leadership in Clarke early and had confidence that he would be indispensable part of the team in all 3 formats. Show me an Indian who can be Clarke’s equivalent. Forget us, Gambhir himself probably wasn’t sure of his Test future.
I agree with you that if Dhoni gets injured, there should be a backup available. But it should be just that – backup. Firing Dhoni just yet is not the right thing.
You are taking the “showmanship” thing a bit too far just for bowling a couple of overs. Dhoni has been exasperated telling his bowlers what line to bowl, match after match. If they dont get it, then probably as a last resort it is fine to bowl a couple of overs and show them how to do it. In fact the very negatives prove the point – if a person who hasnt bowled in 150 ODIs can do it, why not them. Also, the right opposition to do it against was WI (Which has lost to Bangladesh) and not Aus or SA.
Manish, I will say this. Dhoni did manage to prove a point by bowling those two overs. It could very well have been a disaster, but Dhoni managed to pull it off. Kudos to that!