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In 2004 Dhoni the long haired wicket
keeper batsmen from Jharkand the first to represent India from the
region arrived as a hard hitting flamboyant batsmen with his
trademark helicopter shot which never existed before,who wasn't
afraid to take a risk and was a gambler by nature.When thrusted with
captaincy of young indian side for world twenty 20 in South Africa
he trusted his guts and wasn't afraid to gamble.Opening the bowling
with Yusuf Pathan or asking Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over
when your most experienced bowler had an over left and when world cup
is at stake was a brave move which paid off for him and made him the
poster boy of indian cricket .Not many can ask Rahul Dravid to move
down the order ,he did and promoted Pujara against Australia which
led way to a famous india win .
Who can forget Dhoni walking out in
middle ahead of inform Yuvraj Singh in world cup final.Again he knew
what was at risk and the nation would have crucified him if it had
gone wrong for him ,but here was Dhoni unfazed by the situation and
what was at stake .He delivered once again with a match winning
knock.Here was a small town boy who wasn't shy on taking
responsibilities .Here was a captain who was doing the opposite what
others might have .He was ready to gamble because till then playing
safe was never in his mindset.Whatever he touched turned into gold
and he played the most significant role in India rise to no 1 in test
and wining the world cup after 28 years .
Who can forget Dhoni walking out in
middle ahead of inform Yuvraj Singh in world cup final.Again he knew
what was at risk and the nation would have crucified him if it had
gone wrong for him ,but here was Dhoni unfazed by the situation and
what was at stake .He delivered once again with a match winning
knock.Here was a small town boy who wasn't shy on taking
responsibilities .Here was a captain who was doing the opposite what
others might have .He was ready to gamble because till then playing
safe was never in his mindset.Whatever he touched turned into gold
and he played the most significant role in India rise to no 1 in test
and wining the world cup after 28 years .
And thats where the fairytale ended.It
started off with when he agreed to call the match off when India
needed 86 to win of last 15 overs with 7 wickets in hand , easily
achievable in 20-20 days and make a statement of being the no 1 test
side in the world .He dint display the heart of Worlds best test
side.The tour down under later in the year he played the same eleven
which starred in Melbourne to Adelaide although india had already
lost the series 3-0 prior to Adelaide .In the ODI series that
followed Manoj tiwary remained on the sidelines when Raina and Rohit
were falling miserably ,Dhoni was becoming the rigid captain who was
afraid to gamble and make a change or two.
In the recently concluded world twenty
20 after dropping sehwag against australia to play five bowlers it
was baffling to see the part timers bowl 4 overs when australia
crushed india in 15 overs with India's front line bowlers having 4
overs to spare .Some may argue that the front line bowlers were
getting hammered around but they were the best chance of taking a
wicket .Against south africa when Dhoni knew he had to restrict South
Africa to under 121 it was ridiculous to see Rohit bowl before
Ashiwn and when South Africa reached the target of 121, he had
three overs left from his front line bowlers his approach after the
world cup 2011 of hope watch and sit back was taking India towards
elimination from yet another world twenty-20 .Even the selection for
the match was baffling after watching Pakistan and Australia match to
pick three seamers against the team which is traditionally poor
players of spin was an awkward selection.
Dhoni terming the performance of india
in the tournament as satisfactory sounded hallow, on papers they won
four of five which is indeed satisfactory but they had everything in
their favor in the tournament .India was the only side to play all
its game on one venue and the venue that suited their style of
cricket Premadasa.
Bowling has never been India's strenght
but in this tournament, India bowled out its opposition four out of
five times but it was the batting which let India down which is it's
strength .Asking Pathan to open when all the other sides wanted their
best three to face as many balls as possible and put a defendable
score ,Dhoni the world's best one day batsmen was not ready to move
up the order and watch the others scratch around and wait for the
late flourish which never arrived.
Dhonis style of play at start was more
about his calmness and attitude then skills .His rise was because he
was ready to do the unthinkable ,take the risk and gamble he was the
aderaline team India needed.. a team which was too over dependent
on ageing seniors.In sports you
punt, win or lose, or play it safe and lose more often than not .In
Dhonis case he's losing more often then winning now.
