After India’s upsetting ODI series loss to Bangladesh, the first person to feel the heat was Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. All the media, both domestic and international, started criticising him to such an extent that he himself offered to step down as the captain of the team.
Following the consecutive losses to Bangladesh in the 2nd ODI, he has been widely blamed as the person responsible for India’s downfall in the current ODI series. Well its quite natural for people to do so since Dhoni is the leader of the team and he has to take the responsibility for the team’s dismal performance.
But before we make Dhoni the scapegoat for this humiliating defeat in the hands of Bangladesh, lets take a look at the list of his contributions to Indian cricket:
1) World T20 Cup, South Africa(2007)
Dhoni first was made the captain of the Indian team before the World T20 Cup which was to be held in South Africa back in 2007. Dhoni led a relatively young, inexperienced side and beating all the odds, truimphed over fancy teams like Australia and South Africa; he finally lifted the cup after beating Pakistan in the finals, making India the first ever champions in the shortest format of the game.
2) Common Wealth Bank series, Australia(2007-2008)
Dhoni created history by winning the tri-series tournament in Australia, by beating Australia in their home. Australia was the world champion at that point of time and were the team to beat. This was the first time the Indians achieved such a feat and Dhoni led that team to victory.
3) India ranking 1 in the ICC Test Rankings(2008-2009)
After the retirement of Anil Kumble from Test cricket, Dhoni was handed the leadership of the longest format and he became the first captain to lead India in all the three formats. In the calendar year of 2008-2009, under Dhoni’s leadership, India managed to grab the first position in the ICC Test rankings after 1995 when the rankings were first introduced.
4) ICC Cricket World Cup(2011)
This has to be the biggest achievement of Dhoni as India’s skipper as he lifted the World Cup trophy, after defeating Sri Lanka at the Wankhede stadium. India, after a long break of 28 years again became the champions of the world.
5) ICC Champions Trophy(2013)
India jointly were the holders of the Champions Trophy in 2002 along with Sri Lanka. In 2013, India created history as Dhoni’s young team defeated England, in their own country.
Just like another Indian great Sourav Ganguly, Dhoni always relied on young players and never hesitated to give them a chance. He knows how to extract a player out of an individual. Some examples are like Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja.
Irrespective of the on-field results, Dhoni like a protective leader has always backed his players.
On the cricket field, he has been known as a captain to take brave and bold decisions, which have turned the match in India’s favour.
In the recently concluded ICC cricket World Cup also, India finished as semi-finalists in Australia and New Zealand, under Dhoni’s leadership.
So speaking on the captain who has given so much to the country, under whose captaincy India achieved every possible glory, is it correct to hold him responsible for India’s debacle which is collectively entire team’s fault?
Food for thought folks!