Dhoni 2.0: Evolving

Photo by Punemirror

Trent Bridge result shows the skipper has to grow as leader and Kohli has to step up

Over time, foreign cities turn into some sort of landmarks in a journey of a sporting team. With good teams, it's dotted with a famous victories and also, fascinating losses & memorable draws that helped the unit grow. Under MS Dhoni, the overseas Test series were a blur of defeats for a while. It wasn't so much the cities but entire countries were coloured with bad memories.


Drubbing in England was followed by the disaster in Australia before a series of famous retirements sprung upon us a Dhoni 2.0: Same captain but a leader of younger, newer group of men. If the then selector Mohinder Amarnath had his way, Dhoni wouldn't have lasted as a Test captain but we know how that story ended.

Suddenly, Dhoni had a clean slate to have another go as a Test captain at the start of 2014. Here, the cities are starting to make their appearances - Johannesburg, Wellington, and now this one at Nottingham, in the East midlands of England.

They have been those fascinating draws that leave a sports fan with contrasting emotions of hope and disappointment. Is the team moving forward? Or are they failing to convert these draws into potential victories? Considering that this is a team that is relatively young, new, and which doesn't intuitively know its best eleven yet, these cities can be viewed as signposts of progress.

Those nursing the hangover of Dhoni 1.0 will disagree and possibly see them as more of the same. They will also see that both South Africa then and England now have seen better days. Both reactions are understandable and it's a sort of an uncertainty that only time, and future success or failure, can put to rest. Will India grow as a team or will they fumble?

They have been provided with the best situation on this trip. In England team they are faced with an unsure captain, a bowling unit that didn't really deliver in Australia or against Sri Lanka, and a batting line-up that hasn't erased a sense of vulnerability.

To capitalize, Dhoni has to grow as a captain and Virat Kohli the potential heir has to step up. Did we see enough positives from Dhoni the captain? We saw it in his elevation of his batting position but as a captain on the field there weren't enough sparks to silence his critics.

Asked if it was a disappointment that from a winning position on day three, India were saved from a defeat by Nos 7 and 8, Dhoni said "That's a part and parcel of the game, and it doesn't really matter who has scored runs or taken wickets because at the end of the day it is a team game and you go with the strategy of winning the game. It doesn't really matter if No. 11 is scoring the runs or No. 7 is scoring the runs.

Overall, it is important that we have put runs on the board, and we need to defend that. But plenty of positives we can take out of this game." Captains usually don't say the truth always in press conferences but that last sentence rings true for this unit.

Right now, these performances do leave this team with "plenty of positives". If these performances in Jo'berg, Wellington and Nottingham had come from a better team, they would be unequivocally termed as disappointments.

With this Indian team, it's bracketed in that frame of near-misses and plenty of positives. This isn't condescension but just an observation of reality. They will get four more chances on this trip to grow or disintegrate but first, can we please get a decent English pitch to properly judge this team?

By Pune Mirror