End of the road for MS Dhoni?

Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar, recently questioned Dhoni’s place in the team and not just as a captain. He has a point. At his peak he had a lot to offer to the Indian team. The unique combination of his shrewd captaincy, smart wicket-keeping and lethal finishing abilities with the bat made him an invaluable asset to the Indian side. 

Ian Chappell has often said that every captain has an expiry date and probably MS Dhoni is well past it. His method of strangling the opposition with his spinners and part timers that worked like magic till a few years ago is becoming obsolete by the day as teams around the world have begun to play the spinners out and target India’s ever so fragile death bowling. His almost obstinate insistence of playing line and length bowlers instead of genuine pacers seems to defy logic. His team selections have always been questioned.

MS Dhoni was never a great wicket keeper, but he often resulted in timely wickets with his smart work behind the stumps. He did raise the bar with his batting when he first burst on to the scene almost a decade back, but through most of those years Indian didn’t have a genuine alternative who could be as consistent as he used to be in both batting and wicket-keeping. That’s not the case anymore. There are promising players like Sanju Samson waiting in the wings now. However, wicket-keeping is one department which can still be overlooked to some extent, given that he added immense value through his batting. But his batting prowess seems to be waning these days. 

Numbers can be deceiving. He still averages around 43 in ODIs in 2015. That still looks healthy, but it’s important to dig a little deeper.

MS Dhoni's ODI record (2012-2015)

Year	2012	2013	2014	2015
Average	65.5	62.75	52.25	41.72
Strike Rate	87.62	96.04	92.07	84.22

The averages are declining and so are the strike rates. It’s been a while now that he has not been able to finish games well for India – a task he is often considered a master of. There were signs of this fading ability since 2013, but off late it has been quite a regular feature. There was a time when his tactics of leaving the game till the end till late worked almost every time. The logic was to take the game till the point when there is equal pressure on both the bowler as well as the batsman and then he backed himself to clear the ropes even if the target was stiff in the last few overs. That worked because he had the ability to hit sixes at will to back up his move. That ability seems to have deserted him now. The 2014 T20 game against England when he refused to give the strike to Rayudu is a case in point. Sunday’s game against South Africa was another instance when he left the game for too late and the team paid for it. In the last 1-2 years, there have been many such occasions when he has got out in the death overs after facing a bunch of dots thereby making it almost impossible for others to finish the game coming after him. He simply doesn’t seem to strike the same fear in the opposition’s minds anymore.

This transition from Dhoni to Kohli is taking way too long. Dhoni did retire from Tests in December 2014 when Kohli through his aggressive style of captaincy demonstrated that he was ready. He has probably done enough now to show he is ready for captaining India in the shorter formats too. Even if he hasn’t, the split captaincy dynamics don’t really seem to work in a country like Indian where there’s a high chances of an ego-clash between these sometimes larger than life players. Kohli has publicly criticized Dhoni’s indecisiveness earlier this year. That’s not a healthy sign. This transition from Dhoni to Kohli is hurting the players, some of whom seem to be confused about their roles in the team and caught hopelessly between contrasting leadership styles of the two captains.

There is enough evidence that India has not been particularly good at handling retirements in the past. Retiring someone who has done so much for his team is a sticky issue with any country. Teams often tend to stick on with a player longer than they should. Take Ricky Ponting for example. But India is not just any other country. Cricket and emotions often go hand in hand and it’s difficult to treat them in isolation. We eat, sleep and breathe cricket. It’s that much more difficult to let go off a player of MS Dhoni’s stature.

Every sportsperson has to go through this phase when the age catches up and he knows he’s not the same player anymore but the desire to win games for the country one more time keeps on pushing him to continue. It hurts the team though. It’s quite obvious that Dhoni is struggling now. I guess then it’s time now, that MS Dhoni, the most successful Indian ODI captain and surely one of the greats of the game retires with some dignity before it gets too late. May be he will answer back his critics with a strong comeback or maybe he will vanish without a trace just like he did in Tests. Only time will tell.

What makes the Chennai Super Kings such a successful team?

7 seasons, twice champions, 3-time runners-up and at least semi-finalists every single time. With 74 wins from 121 matches till now and a winning percentage of 62.08, Chennai Super Kings are the most successful IPL team by some distance. The second best in the list is Mumbai Indians, winning 55.55% of their 117 matches so far (almost 6.5 percentage point behind); and then there’s a string of teams close to each other in the range of 50-55% winning percentage – Rajasthan Royals at 54.50%, Kolkata Knight Riders at 52.29% and Kings XI Punjab at 50.89%.

What then makes CSK the most successful team?

Consistency in the squad

While there’s no single answer to this question, probably the most important factor behind their success is the consistency in the look of the team. When the IPL started back in 2008, the teams were to play the same squads with a few additions for 3 years i.e till 2010. CSK had done really well in those 3 seasons, even winning the 2010 edition. When fresh auctions were held for the 2011 season where every team could retain a maximum of 4 players, CSK retained its core group of players – MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and Albie Morkel.

By 2010, Ashwin, and Badrinath had become key players for them and they somehow managed to buy them back at the auctions too. Similarly, after 6 seasons, when another round of fresh auctions were held, CSK retained 5 of its core players – MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, and in the auctions, they managed to get Mike Hussey, Faf duPlessis – that’s 7 out of 11 players! To be able to maintain such consistency in their team is phenomenal.

CSK is also the only team which has had only one captain for all 8 seasons till now. The only 3 matches when MS  Dhoni did not captain his side was when he was out injured, when Raina took over the reins. The minimum number of captains all other teams have had is 3!

 Playing smart at the auctions

Ever since the first season CSK has played it really smart in all the auctions. They are not the most miserly of spenders in the IPL auctions like the Rajasthan Royals, but they have managed to somehow pick players who have delivered. Some examples are Doug Bollinger, Mohit Sharma, Dwayne Smith, Chris Morris, Mike Hussey, Shadab Jakati, Albie Morkel and MS Gony– and these are not the core group of players retained by them, who have always played well when it matters the most!

 Team culture

CSK boasts of a great team bonding and culture. The feeling of oneness is quite evident. The players seem to enjoy each other’s company and success. The entire squad along with their coaching staff looks like one big family. Also the Chennai fans are some of the most passionate ones. You will see countless fan videos, songs and memes shared on the various social media websites on every CSK match day. Videos like the #CSKKaapiChallenge are proof of the great camaraderie within the CSK unit.

Composure on the field

Another, often undermined achievement is their Fairplay award wins. They have outplayed every other teams in this aspect of the game, winning it 5 out of 7 times. At the time of writing this article, it is leading the Fairplay award table in this season too. The only two occasions when CSK hasn’t been able to win the award was in 2009, when the Kings XI Punjab won it under the captaincy of Kumar Sangakkara and in 2012, when Rajasthan Royals won it under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid, both known for the cool heads themselves. This is a proof of how the captain has an effect on the way the team plays.

With captain cool MS Dhoni, at the helm of affairs since the beginning, the calmness dripped down to other players as well. Cool heads have ensured that the team has been able to win majority of their big games, often making it to the semis and finals.

Big players who have performed

CSK do have some big players, but just having these big names in their team is not enough. Importantly for them, their big players have consistently performed. Suresh Raina is the highest run-getter in IPL and has scored more than 400 runs in every single edition since its inception. MS Dhoni is 6^th on the list and has time and again played blinders at the end of the innings to bail his team out of trouble. Mike Hussey was incredibly consistent till the time they played for CSK too. Others big-ticket players like Dwayne Bravo, Brendon McCullum and Mathew Hayden also did justice to their status.

What will be MS Dhoni the Test cricketer’s legacy?

MS Dhoni, the Test Cricketer called it quits on his career at the MCG in Dec, 2014

Just seems like yesterday when the stylish long-haired stumper from Ranchi, MS Dhoni debuted for India in international cricket. It was at a time when India was struggling to find a wicket keeper who could bat. India in early 2000s had often relied heavily on Dravid to keep wickets. But with enough pressure already to score for India in Tests and with age catching up, it was unfair to expect Dravid to keep in the longer format of the game.
The Dinesh Karthicks, the Ajay Ratras, the Deep Dasguptas and the Parthiv Patels had shown momentary glimpses of hope, but they were just that, momentary. Dhoni was given a chance in Tests after he took the world by storm through his ODI exploits against Pakistan, and he never looked back after that.

For almost a decade, he served Indian cricket in Tests in the best possible way. He had a hugely successful run initially, winning 8 of his first 11 Tests and drawing the rest. Most of these were at home, but India won in New Zealand, West Indies and drew in South Africa. Till the 2011 World Cup, his captaincy looked largely flawless. India had done well in the opportunities it got till then under his captaincy.

Change of things

Things changed after the 2011 World Cup though. India suffered heavy defeats in England and Australia the next year. Facing severe criticism after the disastrous twin-tours of England and Australia in 2011-12, Dhoni had actually offered to step down had there been a suitable replacement. "It's not something I want to hold on to or stick on to. If there's a better replacement, it's a very open thing, he can come in.
At the end of the day, you want India to perform. If there is someone who can do a better job, then it's a place that should be given to him. It's not something you have to cling on to,” he had said.
Whether or not someone could have replaced him at that time is a matter of debate best had some other day, but remember, almost all batsmen including the then possible replacements, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag had disastrous series themselves.
Playing relentless cricket for almost 10 years where he not only batted in the key lower middle order position but also kept wickets in all formats of the game and captaining whichever side he played for in a majority of those games took its toll on him.
Although, I can hardly remember him dropping any simple catches in spite of all that would probably be going through his mind, he had started to avoid going for catches at first slip especially in the last year or so. These were signs enough that his game did suffer in the later stages of his Test career. It was only fair that he called it a day in one of the formats.
In an interview with All Out Cricket a few months ago, he was asked how long he would like to continue playing cricket. He said “My job is to get the team right and then move away. I couldn’t stand down after the tour here three years ago. I don’t believe in deserting when the chips are down. And speed, I’ll know it is time to finish when I am no longer one of the fastest movers in the team. At that point I will surely know age is winning.”

Retirement

No wonder then that Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket now that India has found a possible alternative captain in Virat Kohli and the team seems to have shown signs of improvement in the current series against Australia. It is the first time India drew a Test in Australia after 6 consecutive defeats. He would have wanted to see the team through the difficult overseas tours in the last 12-14 months.
He was the most experienced of the current Indian team and the youngsters, most of who were on their first overseas tour really needed someone like him. Bowlers and batsmen alike would have gained a lot of experience from these tours and would have benefitted from his presence in the dressing room.
Captaincy of the Indian cricket team is undoubtedly the most scrutinized job in cricket, and just like most of his decisions, there were bound to be questions raised about the timing of his retirement. I feel he would have stayed on till the end of the series had India still been in with a chance after the Melbourne Test.
With series already lost and nothing to lose now, Virat Kohli can turn in as captain at SCG and try and take the Indian team forward with complete freedom. Remember, India will play Test cricket in the subcontinent itself for the next 12-15 months or so. It would be a great opportunity for Kohli to ease into Test captaincy just like it happened for Dhoni himself.

His legacy

What will be MS Dhoni, the Test cricketer’s legacy then? He took India to number one in Tests, which one could argue was at least in part a doing of his predecessors, but India stayed there for 18 months, his contribution cannot be forgotten. He averaged 38.09 in his 90 Test matches for India, scored 6 hundreds and 33 fifties.
His lightning-quick stumpings, his innovative ways of collecting throws to run batsmen out, his jumping with joy in the air when he took those catches and his witty lines on the stump microphones will all be missed. Sure there could be better wicket keeper batsmen in Tests for India in future, but for changing the game at least in Indian cricket and increasing the expectations of Indian fans from a wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni will forever be remembered.
We as Indian fans tend to have short memories but MS Dhoni will unarguably go down in history as one of India’s best captains and certainly the best wicket-keeper batsman ever.

PS: This article by the same author was originally published on SportsKeeda.com here