The Skipper Dilemma
India’s captaincy woes continue. Surprising - we don’t have a coach, and we’re as tentative about our captaincy dilemma as Sehwag would be on a grassy MCG, yet we’re winning. Though it pains me to agree with the likes of Ramiz Raja, the guy certainly made sense when he said that the Aussie tour was a good one for India.
Australia, he said, expose your weaknesses to the limit, allowing you to sort them out better.
But we’ve seen a few letdowns as far as the management goes. First, Dravid. The million dollar question - ‘why’ he gave up the captaincy - will probably go with the cricketer to his grave. Dravid’s stubbornness in his defence apparently has rubbed off a bit, and being the diplomatic gentleman that he’s always been, he would never bring the game into disrespect by pointing a finger or blaming anyone. Simply put, Dravid’s the perfect student of cricket, the sport’s biggest nerd, the front-bencher that the ICC love to have, that Indian cricket need as a leader, the one that a corrupt BCCI never deserves.
If Dravid is the Indian ambassador of batsmanship after Gundappa Vishwanath, Tendulkar is nothing short of a cricketing deity. One would think that the most capped player, a master of analysis - a cricketing genius that he is - would raise his hand and say “Yes, I shall lead the team.” Instead, he chose the easier option out.
Fine, so leadership doesn’t come naturally to Tendulkar. Indian cricket is slowly being dominated by youth, and handing over the Test captaincy to Dhoni at this stage is just way too early. The Australian tour would obviously make him more of ‘Test-captaincy-material’ but when you send your national cricket side down-under, you have no excuses to pick the best team, and the best captain. Sachin, with all due respect, has run away from responsibility in declining the captaincy. Which sucks.
When on the turf, when things aren’t going well for you, when Gilchrist and Hayden have each scored fifty not out, you start to look around for an inspiring, commanding and respected presence on the field. T20 and ODIs are a different game altogether, but in Tests, batsman work real hard for their runs, and bowlers work real hard for their wickets. Strategy is of immense importance. Whoever thinks that Dhoni can do this ahead of Dravid, Ganguly or Tendulkar right now, is horribly wrong. It’s about time you acknowledge this fact. Perhaps, a year down the line, Dhoni would be the ideal captain. Indian cricket, at this stage, is in a transition, and it needs experience to slowly rub onto youth. Welcome, seniors.
The ’seniors’ also might another option to the table - Anil Kumble. Is he as inspiring as the big three? More importantly, are we willing to go with the second-best option? If we are, then you might as well pick Dhoni. The kid is here to stay. Kumble’s retirement is just around the corner.
If only Dravid would revoke hid decision, walk back and say, “Okay. I’ll lead the test side till MS can take over.”
Well, fortunately or unfortunately, Dravid is no Kumaraswamy to make an absurd U-turn.
