At this time, it is a foregone conclusion that MS Dhoni is nearing the end of his shelf life as captain of the Indian TEST team. Almost all Indian cricket fans will accept that the test arena is not Dhoni’s backyard. For all his swagger, nonchalance and instinct, Dhoni looks all at sea in test cricket. It is the format that he should give up captaining as soon as possible and focus his remaining reserves of energy on leading the Indian ODI team out of the dumps that it finds itself in.
But after Dhoni – who? Who are the contenders to take up his mantle? The cupboard looks bare at the moment. The two men who are next in line for the job are Sehwag and Gambhir – both ill-suited to take up the responsibility. Let us examine why.
On first glance, Gambhir looks to be the man for the job. He has age on his side (though barely), an aggressive demeanor (something that is traditionally lacking in the Indian team), has the temperament to play long innings and thereby gain the respect of team mates and the opposition alike and has captained teams in the IPL. However, Gambhir’s recent comments that India should prepare rank turners at home left a bad taste in the mouth. Does Indian cricket want to entrust its leadership to someone who is unable to see the big picture and is content to seek tactical revenge on visiting teams on rank turners to atone for India’s horrors against pace, swing and seam? His comments seem immature - a throw-back to an era in which such strategy may have passed muster and for these reasons, I do not think Gambhir is ready to take up the mantle yet.
Sehwag’s case is even more straight-forward. As the designated vice-captain, he already has substantial experience leading the team in test matches. However, his weaknesses are many – he does not possess the intellect to chalk out a strategy for winning games regularly, his own batting approach (and currently abysmal form) does not lend itself to setting an example for his teammates to follow and he is on the wrong side of 32.
So who does Indian cricket turn to after Dhoni? If the selectors had the cojones (unfortunately in short supply in the BCCI), they would go with Kohli as the Indian captain in Tests and Raina for Twenty20’s (more on this later).
Kohli is undoubtedly a future Indian captain. He has captained U-19 teams, has cemented his place is all formats of the game now and has age on his side. His cussing and troubles with the crowd has caused him to come under criticism but I believe that adding responsibility will temper his wild streak. Dogs that are prone to run here and there and not walk to heel are sometime trained by tying a small bag full of stones to their backs. The dogs then become conscious of the need to carry the stones responsibly and walk to heel. Kohli’s brash temperament may well benefit from the added responsibility of captaincy.
The king is on his way out – at least in the test cricket format. India could do worse than give the prince the throne.
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