It is raining resignations in Indian cricket. First it was a set of career administrators who called it a day. Now comes the biggest bombshell of them all with Mahendra Singh Dhoni stepping down as the ODI and T20I captain.
In true Dhoni style, he has quit his role in the most understated fashion ever. This was very much like the way he retired from Test cricket. Back in December 2014, he helped India save the third Test against Australia, spoke at a media conference never giving it away and then came the news of Dhoni retiring from Tests.
Now, Wednesday’s announcement was even more curious as it came about an hour post the alert from the BCCI of a selection meeting on 6 January for the ODI/T20I series against England. There may be many a theory about his decision, but right now the time is to celebrate almost a decade of leadership.
MS Dhoni’s Era as Indian Captain
Dhoni took over T20I captaincy thanks to a very positive move by seniors like Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar to skip the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007. That paved the way for a new fresh era under Dhoni which gave a fresh lease of life for India in the shorter formats. It was not long before he took over the ODI captaincy as well, thereby taking total control of India’s fortunes in coloured clothing.
Dhoni’s era as captain was marked by a clear emphasis on fitness, fleet-footed fielders and obviously swift runners between the wickets. This was the legacy of Dhoni because you could see a clear emphasis on these kinds of factors while choosing sides. Hence over the last nine years, a number of senior pros have had to bid goodbye from Dhoni’s shorter version plans. This has happened without any fear or favour and at times ruthlessly.
In all of Dhoni’s era as limited-overs captaincy saw two different eras of India’s senior players bowing out because they simply did not fit the plan.
Whether it was Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid in his early days or the likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh in the later years, decisions were made when there was a feeling that they did not make the cut.
Though he never spoke about selection openly, it was clear that the choices had a clear ‘Dhoni stamp’. He managed to smile and take the shots at him sportingly when fingers were pointed over these decisions. This was a big change from the earlier eras, when senior pros would never have been left out till they themselves did not hang up their boots. Indian cricket certainly saw a shift off the field in the way decisions were handled around experienced players.
ICC Titles Won Under Dhoni
On the field results continued to reach new heights for India especially in the way they won three ICC events under Dhoni. Whether it was the 2007 World Twenty20 or the 2013 Champions Trophy, Dhoni showed his ability to lead from the front with a bunch of young players. Both were gambles which paid off but helped mark Dhoni out as one of the all-time great limited-overs captains.
It was only in the 2011 ODI World Cup that Dhoni had the services of an experienced side, which helped him more or less sail through to the title.
Not being able to win the last three ICC titles after coming close obviously played a part in making Dhoni’s mind.
Ideally he should have quit the ODI captaincy after the 2015 World Cup and the T20I captaincy after the 2016 World Twenty20, because there was nothing left for him to achieve in these formats. But he chose to hang on maybe because he was waiting for Virat Kohli to grow as vice-captain.
Captain Cool Passes on the Baton to Kohli
Kohli has more than served his time as an apprentice in the last 18 months as Test captain. With India playing very few limited-overs series in the recent past and in the coming months, Dhoni probably felt it was time for Kohli to be the man in all formats.
Dhoni was calm, cool and collected, never once being flustered under pressure. But Kohli is a different personality who seems to have calmed a bit, but at best he is an excitable leader who may find that leading in ODI/T20I is a different matter altogether.
Thankfully, Kohli will have the wise head of Dhoni to guide in this initial phase as he tries to carve out a niche, only this time in coloured clothing.
Also Read: Unmasking Captain Cool – The MS Dhoni Story
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