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So what is it about Dhoni

by Bored Guest

by Mohit Varma

OK - the first thing some people will say about Dhoni is that he's very lucky.

Yes, but fortune favours the brave, and it would be foolish to attribute Dhoni's success as a captain down to just luck. The fact is that he's managing the side very well.

Let's look at the series so far in Sri Lanka. India has won two close matches, one while chasing a total, the other while defending a total. The good thing about both victories is that they were team efforts. No doubt individual performances mattered, but it was the team that played around these individual efforts. It's also great to see an aggression in India's bowling. When Jayasuriya tried to come down the pitch first Praveen and then Ishant sent down a short delivery pegging him back to his crease. It didn't matter that these short bowls were given as wides, the bowlers wanted to send a message to Jayasuriya and they did it.

Dhoni's leadership , undoubtedly is one of the inputs in the development of players like Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma. His leadership is also a factor in the senior players like Sehwag and Zaheer understanding their roles, and becoming match winners for India. The Indian captain also deserves praise for the way he's dealt with Sachin Tendulkar, who could have been a very difficult proposition. As the senior most batsman in the side with the most impressive statistics, Dhoni has allowed Sachin to pick his spot and open the batting. This is a shrewd move; rather than confront India's cricketing demigod Dhoni has very smartly shifted the pressure of performance on Sachin's shoulders. Now that Sachin has got his spot, he's accountable for his performance. The Indian captain is making Sachin play for his place and that's no mean achievement, given the pressures that an Indian cricket captain has to face.

Yes, Dhoni's devils are playing for the captain. This is very important in the success of a team. Playing for the country, playing for the India cap, these are intangibles. The leader is flesh and blood, is tangible making it much easier for members of the team to relate to and play for a leader. This is an attribute that Dhoni has in common with Ganguly. Ganguly could make Sehwag, Yuvi and Bhajji, among others, play for him. He could command their loyalty and respect, one of the reasons he was such a successful skipper. Dravid unfortunately, lacked this ability, and had a very mixed record as skipper. To be fair to Dravid he also had Guru Greg to contend with.

So what is it about Dhoni. Well he has the X factor that successful leaders have. The abiity to make the team play for the skipper. The team is comfortable, confident and well-settled under Dhoni, and that's why they're clinching such close finishes. It's still early days for Dhoni - but make no mistake. He has the team's loyalty and he can lead them to the top spot. As far as luck is concerned, we're lucky to watch a great leader - M S Dhoni.

3 comments:

straight point said...

good one mohit!

as they say...

'luck is the awareness of mind when opportunities are passing by...'

Gaurav Sethi said...

Lotta thought in there M.

the tangible-intangible point is very tangible. esp when you make the RD-MSD comparison. Doubt anybody ever touched RD, or if he touched anyone. The new indian team's filled with Loofas, while RD was an Aloof-a.

Unknown said...

hey thanks SP!! NC while on rd I wonder how long he'll lead the royal challengers in IPL, especially with kp in