Dhoni X-Factor in ICC Champions Trophy Finale..
Indian cricket team is once again living up to its tag of being unpredictable. The difference is till now in the tournament, it has shown the kind of consistently dominating performance that can only be termed as oxymoronic for Jekyl and Hyde nature that Indian fans are so used to. It is indeed a pleasant surprise. I thought they would be tested by the Sri Lankans, but probably the toss going in favour of Indian captain and then the support he got from his new ball bowlers in forst 15 overs, really put a nooze around the Lankan throats. Dhoni is too smart a captain to let that loose; to me the brilliance of his captainship was a decision to take the pads off and bowl a few overs when his main pace bowlers were coming close to exhausting their quota and clearly, one of the best batsman of spin bowling ever, Mahela Jayavardane was waiting for spinners to come on. Dhoni got the nod from Aleem Dar with a hooping in-swinger, only to be denied by the DRS. But that and Dhoni's spell infact kept both Mahela and his skipper Mathews, both extremely attacking batsmen, quiet for a spell of 8 overs when they were looking to break the shakles imposed by Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma. Of course at the other end, it was another surprise package, Ravindra Jadeja dooing his bit, delightfully mixing a spinner with a slider with almost no discerning change in his bowling action. It is quite an achievement for Jadeja to get rave comments form spin maestro behind the microphone in the commentator's box, Shane Warne....perhaps you may say, Warney has a bit of soft corner for this player who took his first baby steps in the world of international cricket under his tutelage eventhough in IPL team of Rajasthan Royals. Every time Warney opens his mouth to say something for Jadeja, it has been nothing but praise..even his "rock-star" comment drips with admiration for this youngster. That is no mean achievement, since Warney, the quaintessential Aussie, simply does not know how to soften his words, be it for his foe or his own countrymen and is very similar to another typical Aussie bloke, Ian Chappel. Jadeja's turnaround has been shocking....pleasantly shocking for me. I never thought this guy had it within him to suceed at the international level, and he is still some distance away, but by God, what he has shown in last 12 months is nothing short of miracle. And absolute triumph of sheer hard work and attitude.....something very close to my heart. I am, for a change, glad to be wrong, and do tip my hat to Dhoni for keeping faith in this lad. One day, if I get an opportunity to sit with Dhoni, I would love to ask, how and what and where and when did he see ANY kind of potential in Jadeja...I don't know if someone will call Dhoni a lucky captain as a lot more of his moves come off rather than otherwise, and sometimes without appearing to be looking logical as well. I strongly suspect, however, that there is a method to Dhoni's madness. May be some day we will read the X-files on Dhoni's this X-factor!! Till then, just enjoy his cptainship.
I rate it somewhere as high as Nawab of Pataudi and a little above Surav Ganguly. Nawab was the best Indian captain I have ever seen, and he was as cool on the field as Dhoni is; but then, he was born a prince and played without much personal pressure. No amount of criticism affected him as he had a princely background and cricket was mere opportunity to showcase his talents. This is not to say he played with a disdain akin to what an aristocrat shows towards currency, but the pressure of failure did not bother him as much as it did some other mere mortals, who depended upon the fame earned on the cricket field to get wealthy. India in those days was very different; one of the finest pace bowlers India has ever produced, "Tiny" Ramakant Desai died in a Mumbai chawl, in a small room under the staircase...
Dhoni, when started as a player, had no structured technique, as we coaches like to say. He had his own technique, but his sharp reflexes and eyesight, awesome self-confidence and quick hands allowed him to dominate bowling like a few have done so far. His technique behind the stumps was not exactly atrocious, but definately not worthy of being first class cricketer. But the x-factor of his batting outweighed everything. Dhoni, when started his career, was a simple boy, of simple means from a hither-to unknown cricket state of Bihar/Zarkhand. It was amazing how he was picked up even in the East Zone team to start with.....to me that shows how much Indian domestic selection policies have changed from my playing days. He hardly oozed wealth as the Nawab did, but by sheer dint of his X-factor rose to a level of popularity that rivalled even Tendulkar's. Through all that journey though, I have not seen him change much outwardly...well, not true exactly.
He has certainly lost his locks of 2005 fame when he bashed an 183 n.o. against Sri Lankans in an ODI and regularly took Pakistanis head on. The latter, to me is a hallmark of the guts very very few Indians showed till then, especially after that famous six of the last ball by Javed Miandad; "attitude" against Pakistan has always been my criteria to define greatness for an Indian cricketer. But Dhoni, when he took over the captainship from Kumble, was a breath of fresh air; good mix of attack and defense. His man-management capabilities were right from day one, at par with Saurav Ganguly in that his team was ready to die for him. His triumph in the ODI tri series in Australia in 2009; first time ever India won after the successful 1985 World Championship, defined the greatness of his team at that time, and to a great extent his captainship. Soon he was to lift the mace of the Test Championship. The spike in the chart of his popularity went through the proverbial roof and amazingly has remained somewhere up there far longer than any other Indian captain I have seen. In spite of a lot of barbs thrown at him by some armchair critics, he continues to remain his own man, cool and mostly withdrawn from any controversy (some recent "conflict of interest" allegations notwithstanding!). I remember what once his IPL teammate Matthew Haydon said; MS remains so much detached from cricket off the field that it was impossible even for his team mates, during the IPL season, after a game, to contact and talk to him once he disappeared form the dressing room. He would not lift the phone, nor return a message. But he commanded a respect from his team mates, even when they were bigger than him in age, experience and achievements. And more often than not on the field, has had the last word.
Perhaps tomorrow he will have one more of such last word, against many of his detractors as his team has shown a great composure and hitherto-rarely seen-dominance in a world cup type tournament. English team, on the other hand also looks very settled and playing some great cricket. While India have gone through the tournament so far without a single loss, England was beaten by Sri Lanka in the group game, quite soundly. Though it was the result of a single masterclass from Sangakaara, I thiought England were a tad unlucky in not getting Sanga out a couple of times; if that had happened, English could have restricted Sri Lanka from reaching the target. English bowling has been the main stay for them in the tournament so far, probably similar to Indian team. A slight edge India has is in their batting department as all top order except, perhaps Raina, have fired and look in good nick. The conditions, even though it is early part of English summer, has been the non-English conditions that all teams have faced; and of course use of the Kookaburra balls. The latter, I think is also critical since it has not swung much and to that extent, English pacers have looked less dangerous. On the other hand, at all three venues, Indians have found the turf to yield to tweak giving them some advantage. However Sunday's weather forcast for Burmingham is like a typical English weather, cool and rain in the air. Dhoni may be tempted to go for a seamer like Irfan; though the current balance of his team has been so much on the spot that he may not like to tinker with it..whatever it is, I feel Dhoni may produce a rabbit form the hat tomorrow..it's his X-factor that will be critical for Indians tomorrow as well...
Look forward to a great game of cricket..
I rate it somewhere as high as Nawab of Pataudi and a little above Surav Ganguly. Nawab was the best Indian captain I have ever seen, and he was as cool on the field as Dhoni is; but then, he was born a prince and played without much personal pressure. No amount of criticism affected him as he had a princely background and cricket was mere opportunity to showcase his talents. This is not to say he played with a disdain akin to what an aristocrat shows towards currency, but the pressure of failure did not bother him as much as it did some other mere mortals, who depended upon the fame earned on the cricket field to get wealthy. India in those days was very different; one of the finest pace bowlers India has ever produced, "Tiny" Ramakant Desai died in a Mumbai chawl, in a small room under the staircase...
Dhoni, when started as a player, had no structured technique, as we coaches like to say. He had his own technique, but his sharp reflexes and eyesight, awesome self-confidence and quick hands allowed him to dominate bowling like a few have done so far. His technique behind the stumps was not exactly atrocious, but definately not worthy of being first class cricketer. But the x-factor of his batting outweighed everything. Dhoni, when started his career, was a simple boy, of simple means from a hither-to unknown cricket state of Bihar/Zarkhand. It was amazing how he was picked up even in the East Zone team to start with.....to me that shows how much Indian domestic selection policies have changed from my playing days. He hardly oozed wealth as the Nawab did, but by sheer dint of his X-factor rose to a level of popularity that rivalled even Tendulkar's. Through all that journey though, I have not seen him change much outwardly...well, not true exactly.
He has certainly lost his locks of 2005 fame when he bashed an 183 n.o. against Sri Lankans in an ODI and regularly took Pakistanis head on. The latter, to me is a hallmark of the guts very very few Indians showed till then, especially after that famous six of the last ball by Javed Miandad; "attitude" against Pakistan has always been my criteria to define greatness for an Indian cricketer. But Dhoni, when he took over the captainship from Kumble, was a breath of fresh air; good mix of attack and defense. His man-management capabilities were right from day one, at par with Saurav Ganguly in that his team was ready to die for him. His triumph in the ODI tri series in Australia in 2009; first time ever India won after the successful 1985 World Championship, defined the greatness of his team at that time, and to a great extent his captainship. Soon he was to lift the mace of the Test Championship. The spike in the chart of his popularity went through the proverbial roof and amazingly has remained somewhere up there far longer than any other Indian captain I have seen. In spite of a lot of barbs thrown at him by some armchair critics, he continues to remain his own man, cool and mostly withdrawn from any controversy (some recent "conflict of interest" allegations notwithstanding!). I remember what once his IPL teammate Matthew Haydon said; MS remains so much detached from cricket off the field that it was impossible even for his team mates, during the IPL season, after a game, to contact and talk to him once he disappeared form the dressing room. He would not lift the phone, nor return a message. But he commanded a respect from his team mates, even when they were bigger than him in age, experience and achievements. And more often than not on the field, has had the last word.Perhaps tomorrow he will have one more of such last word, against many of his detractors as his team has shown a great composure and hitherto-rarely seen-dominance in a world cup type tournament. English team, on the other hand also looks very settled and playing some great cricket. While India have gone through the tournament so far without a single loss, England was beaten by Sri Lanka in the group game, quite soundly. Though it was the result of a single masterclass from Sangakaara, I thiought England were a tad unlucky in not getting Sanga out a couple of times; if that had happened, English could have restricted Sri Lanka from reaching the target. English bowling has been the main stay for them in the tournament so far, probably similar to Indian team. A slight edge India has is in their batting department as all top order except, perhaps Raina, have fired and look in good nick. The conditions, even though it is early part of English summer, has been the non-English conditions that all teams have faced; and of course use of the Kookaburra balls. The latter, I think is also critical since it has not swung much and to that extent, English pacers have looked less dangerous. On the other hand, at all three venues, Indians have found the turf to yield to tweak giving them some advantage. However Sunday's weather forcast for Burmingham is like a typical English weather, cool and rain in the air. Dhoni may be tempted to go for a seamer like Irfan; though the current balance of his team has been so much on the spot that he may not like to tinker with it..whatever it is, I feel Dhoni may produce a rabbit form the hat tomorrow..it's his X-factor that will be critical for Indians tomorrow as well...
Look forward to a great game of cricket..
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