India’s Dhoni dilemma lingers amid lack of options for new captain

Virat Kohli's poor form in England leaves selectors stuck for possible successors

India captain MS Dhoni, pictured after drawing the first Test against England at Trent Bridge on July 13, 2014, in Nottingham, England, is under heavy pressure after losing the Test series 3-1. Gareth Copley / Getty ImagesShow less

MUMBAI // Beleaguered India captain MS Dhoni appears set to retain his Test captaincy – if he has the desire to continue – because of a lack of alternatives.

India’s propensity for foreign failures was exposed in 2011 when the side lost eight consecutive Tests with back-to-back 4-0 thrashings in England and Australia.

If Indian fans thought that period was the lowest point possible, they were in for a rude awakening when India landed in England last month for a five-Test series.

Things began well when Dhoni’s unfancied side claimed their first overseas win in three years with a comprehensive victory in the second Test at Lord’s to take a 1-0 series lead, but any joy and relief was short-lived.

In the next three matches India capitulated meekly against a resurgent England, with the final nail hammered into their coffin at The Oval when they lost by an innings and 244 runs in less than three days to slump to a 3-1 series defeat.

While coach Duncan Fletcher had his role reduced after the woeful Test segment of the tour, with the Indian board moving quickly to appoint Ravi Shastri as director of cricket, there was barely a murmur on Dhoni's fate.

In the 20 Test matches in which Dhoni has led India outside the country since their 2011 50-over World Cup triumph on home soil, the team has won two and lost 13.

It was all so promising when the hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman took off on a wave of popularity after his one-day international debut in 2004 and first Test cap a year later.

As a rookie captain of India’s Twenty20 side in 2007, he guided his men to victory in the inaugural World Cup in South Africa and was handed the reins of the Test team later that year after Rahul Dravid stepped down.

His dashing performances made him a poster boy of Indian cricket, probably second only in popularity to batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, because of his no-nonsense attitude and uncanny Midas touch.

As captain, Dhoni, 33, took India to the No 1 Test ranking, added the 50-over World Cup title to his resume in 2011, after a gap of 28 years for India, and also won the Champions Trophy in England to forge a permanent place in Indian cricket folklore.

His records probably never allowed administrators to look beyond him as the team's figurehead or put in place a succession plan as Dhoni continues to lead India in Tests, ODIs and shortest Twenty20s.

When a much-criticised Dhoni was able to keep his job after the 2011 humblings in England and Australia, the general consensus was that it will be up to the player to decide when he steps down or hands the reins to someone else.

Making matters worse is the fact that, following the retirement of several senior cricketers in the past few years, India still does not have a single viable option able to step in and replace Dhoni.

Rising star Virat Kohli was considered a possibility, but the 25-year-old batsman’s poor form in England means he probably needs time to sort out his own problems before shouldering the burden of captaincy.

“He [Dhoni] is only surviving because there’s no alternative. Otherwise, yes, it’s probably time to rethink on Test captaincy and take the burden off him,” former chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth told Indian television.

“But who’s the next captain? That is the problem. I mean, with Virat Kohli’s form he is not in contention at all.”

India’s leading national dailies and social media users have been united in their condemnation of the Test series in England, with Dhoni and Fletcher bearing the brunt of the collective anger.

While former captain Sunil Gavaskar bemoaned an apparent lack of fight as “jelly-like resistance”, newspapers opted to instead heap praise on the women’s team for showing the men how to win on English soil in their one-off Test last week.

It could be argued that it was an impossible task to lift the side during the last three Tests in England, but critics often highlighted Dhoni’s lack of imagination while leading the team.

He tried to lead by example with the bat, notching up the second-highest amount of runs by an Indian in the series after opener Murali Vijay, but most of the time his resistance came as a last hurrah in an already lost cause.

According to former India captain Sourav Ganguly, considered by many as one of the best to have led the country, Dhoni has to improve his tactical acumen and “reassess himself” as his overseas captaincy was not up to scratch.

“As much as I believe he should still carry on in spite of the call for his head, he needs a massive improvement in his tactics,” Ganguly wrote in a column, published by the Hindustan Times newspaper yesterday.

“He needs to be a lot more proactive rather than allowing it to drift.”

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