Captains are usually given undue credit or blame for their team’s performance. If the players in the team have less skill and experience than those in the opposing team, the team generally loses more than they wins. There is nothing much you can do to blame the captain if the team is performing, but that is what critics do.
On the other hand, if you have a team full of superstars, the captain only plays a small part in the team’s success. However, fans are quick to praise the captain. This was particularly true for Ricky Ponting who coasted for a long time on extraordinary players like McGrath, Gilchrist, Warne and Hayden.
So when we look at captaincy, we need to look at teams that succeeded in spite of having average players or failed despite having good players. For the most part, we can ignore teams like West Indies and Australia who have always had great players and teams like Bangladesh which has perpetually lost matches. The only exception I can think of is Allan Border who received the captaincy at a time when Australia were not doing so good.
The two players who had a terrible time at captaincy in recent times were Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. Before receiving the captaincy, Tendulkar was the vice-captain and was very active in helping with on-field decisions. However, his two captaincy stints were disasters, not only for the team, but also for his batting. Since then, he has rejected calls for being the captain again. As for Lara, while he inherited the captaincy during a time of waning fortunes for the West Indies, he was not able to inspire his team to battle it out unlike how Chris Gayle has been able to do.
On the other side of the spectrum, Martin Crowe was one of the captains who managed to make lemons out of lemonade. With a team of arguably harmless batsmen and bowlers, he forged a fighting unit that won every match in the 1992 World Cup until they came against an inspired Pakistani team. He introduced new innovative tactics (slogging at the start of the innings) that took opponents by surprise and still defines ODI cricket today.
Nasser Hussain took an insipid England team and made them into a tough band, which, under Vaughan, would go on to win series after series. Sourav Ganguly did the same for India leading to the greatest cricketing Test rivalry during this decade: the India-Australia series. Under him, teams realized that gamesmanship against India was a double-edged sword. The jelly beans incident was Ganguly’s legacy.
So, let us finally come to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Is he a great captain? It is still early days, but there is more and more evidence that points to that. He won the T20 World Cup, lead India to victory against Australia, England and New Zealand, and almost won the first IPL. The interesting thing is that we can compare his record with the other Indian captains leading the team at the same time.
Anil Kumble lead India against South Africa and lost the 2nd Test. Dhoni was the captain for the 3rd Test and India won. Against Australia, Kumble lead India for the 1st and 3rd Tests, which ended in draws. Dhoni was the skipper for the 2nd and 4th Tests, which India won. Sehwag lead India in the 2nd Test against the Kiwis and India struggled to draw the match. India easily won the first Test and almost won the 3rd Test against New Zealand, when Dhoni lead the team.
Dhoni, unlike Martin Crowe, has not introduced any new strategies or tactics. But I think he has had a positive effect on the team through his management style. One of the interesting features of this Indian team is that Dhoni is not the most experienced team member. Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, etc. have more experience than him. So he has to lead the team through consensus rather than enforcement. And therefore, it probably creates less pressure for the team members.
In the long run, we will see how India fares and how history rates Dhoni. In the last two decades, India has had many captains. Azharuddin made India an irresistible force at home, but he is more remembered today for his betting scandals. Tendulkar squandered India’s advantage. Ganguly helped India win abroad. Who remembers Dravid’s captaincy now even though he won a series in England? And Kumble’s stop-gap captaincy will be a footnote to his legendary exploits as India’s best ever spinner.