When India visited Australia in 2003-04, Sourav Ganguly played an epic knock of 144, that took the fight right back to Steve Waugh and his team.  India were in deep trouble at 60 odd for 4, but Ganguly in the company first of Laxman and then young Parthiv Patel, brought India back from the edge of the abyss.  Later in the series, he opted to come in ahead of an out of sorts Sachin Tendulkar, probably the first and last time anyone has had to protect the Little Master, and he did so with guts and determination.  He led from the front, and for the rest of the series his team followed him. 

Similarly in 2007-08 Anil Kumble led from the front with both bat and ball, averaging 30 with the bat, much higher than specialist batsmen such as Yuvraj Singh and Wasim Jaffer and also higher than wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, while also being the top wicket taker and leading the team to an inspiring win in Perth, on one of the fastest and bounciest wickets in the world.  He inspired his pace bowlers, who were missing their spearhead Zaheer Khan, to outbowl an vaunted Australian attack composed of Brett Lee, Shaut Tait, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clarke.

Until the debacle in England, nobody would have accused Dhoni of leading from behind.  But in that series, and in the first match of this series, has not been able to lead from the front, with the bat at least, due to his glaring problems with the moving ball.  Dhoni is a cool customer, who never appears flustered or troubled, and is always saying soothing and calming things.  But even Mr. Cool, must be feeling the heat now.  It was clear that his mindset has become more defensive.  Even in the West Indies last year, he refused to even try to chase down a relatively gettable target in the final Test, and settled for a 1-0 win instead of going for a 2-0 victory.  Later in the England series, he succumbed to outside pressure to recall a legally dismissed Ian Bell, and opened the floodgates to a massive defeat.

Now after five straight defeats overseas, he truly has begun to feel the full burden of the office of Captain.  Of course the Aussies are like wolves, they sense the minutest weakness in their prey, especially in the opposition's captain, who is always a prime target, and they have attacked him in a pack.  If reports in the press are to be believed Dhoni along with India's key batsman and bowler has been subjected to targeted sledging and mental disintergration tactics.  These seem to have had an impact, even on as tough a customer as the Indian captain.  Manifestation of this were seen in his defensive field placings in Australia's second innings when he failed to go for the kill, fearing the possibility that the Australian tail would get away with a few extra runs.  In the end they did just that, and quite easily as they were not pressurized by Dhoni at all.

If he does not turn things around fast his reputation as one of India's best captains will truly be tarnished and will not recover from the huge hit it has already taken.  He must lead and if he can't lead from the front with his bat, he must lead from behind the sticks with his gloves, and with his tactics.  He must somehow inspire the team to fight back from being behind a 0-1 and provide fire in the belly, and fighting spirit, which no amount of uber coolness will provide.  He needs to do so fast to prevent the series from being over, at least as far as chances of an Indian series win is concerned by just about the half-way mark.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon
• Tweet

Indian Cricket Poll