Dhoni’s Captaincy: Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity

My previous blog regarding Dhoni being the best captain under trying circumstances received a lot comments on Dhoni’s lack of series wins outside the sub-continent.  Though the blog was not intended to analyze how good a captain Dhoni is, but the comments made me think about the captaincy.

Ganguly, former India captain, (whom I considered to be among the best captain from India, especially considering the fact how he took the team from the bottom level to the almost the top) has always said that “the captain is only as good as the team” and I firmly believe in this. Just think of the great captains likes of Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor, Ranatunga, Rick Ponting and so on. If these people where to lead a Kenyan side or a Nepal cricket team, how would have they fared?

What does a cricket captain do? He is the one who makes decision whether bat or bowl first, then choose the batting order. These two events may not be his individual choice but certainly has a grip on the calls. Then the most important aspect in cricket captaincy is to select/ change bowlers and to get the right field formation. So, basically there are 4 major tasks for a captain and these decisions may be strategic or instinctive decisions. In cricket most of the times the captain has to relay in instinctive decisions as very rarely do we see everything going according to plan. Had it been so, cricket would have never trilled us so far.

In the year 2007, T20 world cup finals, as Pakistan went into the last over needing 13 runs to win, with only 1 wicket remaining, Dhoni’s decided to go with Joginder Sharma (who was relatively new to team) to bowl the last over. Pakistan needed just 6 runs to win from the last four balls, Misbah attempted to hit the ball with a paddle-scoop over fine leg, but he only managed to sky the ball, and it was caught at short fine-leg by Sreesanth, leaving Pakistan all out for 152 runs.

In the year 2011, Cricket World Cup Final, India had a shaky start, with Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar both dismissed early by Lasith Malinga, leaving them at 31 for two chasing 275. Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir started the recovery with some fluent stroke play and quick running between wickets, taking India to 114 before Kohli was caught-and-bowled by Tillakaratne Dilshan for 35. Dhoni came in after Kohli to bat at number five, usually the position of Yuvraj Singh (who seemed to be in form of his life). In the end, Yuvraj Singh along with Dhoni took India to victory, and Dhoni sealed the match hitting a six off Nuwan Kulasekara. Dhoni finished on 91 not out from 79 deliveries.

In the year 2013, ICC Champions Trophy final, the match was reduced to 20 overs match. Chasing 130 in 20 overs, Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara were together, compiling a stand of 64 from 55 balls for the fifth wicket, England were in with a chance and had begun a charge to the line, with 59 required from the last six overs. This is when Dhoni gave the ball to Ishant Sharma, who until then has a very bad outing to bowl the 18^th over of the match. First he removed Morgan who fetched a slower to be caught by Ashwin at mid-wicket. Then he bowled a short one which was again gobbled by Ashwin standing at square leg this time.  From 110 for four, England slumped to 113 for eight losing four wickets in the addition of only three runs.  India clinched the ICC Champions Trophy, in its last edition, with a nerve-wracking five-run victory over hosts England giving Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the unique record of being the first captain to win three world titles.

Many believe that Dhoni was plain lucky to have won the 3 trophies. Luck also favors the brave. Dhoni was brave enough to give the ball to Joginder Sharma and to have a short fine leg, to promote himself above the man in form Yuvraj Singh, to give ball to Ishant Sharma, though was having a bad day. Dhoni reacted on his instincts when it came to changing the batting order, changing the bowler, changing the field placements and that is what is expected out of every captain. Dhoni calls have earned the right results for him.

Dhoni has a win ratio of 57% in ODIs, more than any India captain (atleast leading India in 20 ODIs).  Azharuddin and Ganguly come next with 54%. Dhoni has higher win ratio in Test Matches which is 52%, while Mohammad Azharuddin has 30% and Sourav Ganguly 43%.

Sourav Ganguly has lead India in 20 test series, out of which 11 have been outside India. 

India has won 2 against Bangladesh 1-0 and 2-0.

• Against Zimbabwe, drew 1-1 and lost 0-2
• Against Sri Lanka, lost 1-2
• Against South Africa, lost 0-1
• Against West Indies, lost 1-2
• Against England, drew 1-1,
• Against New Zealand, lost 0-2
• Against Australia, drew 1-1
• Against Pakistan, won 1-0

Sourav Ganguly has never won a series outside subcontinent, not even against West Indies, New Zealand or Zimbabwe. He has drawn series against Zimbabwe, England and Australia.

While Rahul Dravid has a series win against England & West Indies 1-0. Under his captaincy, Indian won it’s a test against South Africa in South Africa. And Anil Kumble led side has won a test match in Australia but lost the series 1-2.

Coming back to Dhoni, he has lost to England and Australia 0-4 and 0-3 respectively (in Australia, Virender Sehwag was the captain for one test match which India lost). He has won series against New Zealand 1-0, West Indies 1-0, and against South Africa dew series 1-1. Basically out the 19 series he has captain; he has had 3 bad series, two outside sub-continent and one in India against England.

Sourav Ganguly has won 11 test matches outside India out of 28 matched he captained, while Dhoni is second on the list with 5 out of 21.

Statistically, Dhoni is the best Captain of all the captains India has ever had. Comparing any two captains would not be fair as different era & managing different individuals possessed different kinds of challenges. Before Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricket team were poor travelers, it was he, who started us giving victories outside sub-continent. The mantle was carried forward by Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. MS Dhoni has definitely changed around the shorter format of the game. I personally feel, he needs to be given time in Test cricket, he doesn’t have the luxury of Fab four and or quality spinner duo. But he is certainly building a team that has batting talent to face any opposition in any condition and a slow but improving bowling unit. Hope when Dhoni hang his boots: he would hand over the mantle to his successor from where he started. (He was the First India captain the reach Rank 1 test ranking)

Dhoni, the best captain under trying circumstances

In the year 2011, India was ranked 1 in the test cricket and they went to surrender to English in England, very badly. The score line read 0-4 with 2 innings defeat. Not just the test matches, they also lost the 5 matches one day series 0-3. Then, the next series against Australia, in Australia, again went on to lose 0-2 with 2 innings defeat. Must have been tough on Dhoni! When we thought it was just the away series that India are losing with its ageing superstars in ranks. The bigger blow came when they lost to England in India the 4 test match series 1-2, in 2012.

Most Indian captains would have given up or lost their position after losing home series, especially India are known to be almost unbeatable in home conditions. Dhoni, with some support from the BCCI, stood strong.

At present, England are 2 down in the current Ashes series after winning previous home series 3-0. Alastair cook, the England captain looks down and out so does the England team. They even lost Trott, stating stress related issues after 1 test.

Consider these two scenarios at 0-2 score line, India vs England in 2011 and the current Ashes series in Australia. Neither India did look like coming back, nor is this present England team looking like they going to make a comeback. But the stand out feature of the Indian team was they didn't look like stressed out or wanting to run away. Dhoni was ready to accept the defeat and oblige that they weren't good enough to beat England. While Cook on the other hand, doesn't seem like he has accepted the defeats well. Remember, both the teams were on top of the game before entering the respective series.

I seriously doubt the future of Cook as a captain and player. After the second test match he has said that the loss is hurting him and the team. If he able to make a comeback from here, that would be great. England has seen players like Marcus Trescothick & Michael Yardy quit due to stress during tours and never come back. Let’s hope to see more of Trott in the future. Stress is when, when they are not winning. This is where Dhoni has been a master, his ability to treat the loss as just a loss due to bad performance not bad effort. Even after the current one day series loss to South Africa, he has said it that it’s just the batting is not clicking and that can happen. He doesn't seem to be worried about the loss or how difficult it can get in the test series.

India after losing to England in home has went to win against Australia 4-0 at home and then West Indies. And one-dayers, the team won continuous 6 tournaments, which included the Champions trophy in England.

There is this something special about Dhoni, to be able to keep his cool during lows as well as highs. Not just that, but being able to bring out the performance from his team after a real low. As the saying goes, “Never let success get to your head and never let failure get to your heart. There is probably no better example for quote than Dhoni. After all Cricket is just a sport, where one team has to win and the other has to lose.

What to do with Irumudi Kettu after reaching Sabarimala

For last 3 consecutive years I have been to Sabarimala, the most disturbing visual over there is that many devotees are not aware of what to be done with Irumudi Kettu. As a result, many just dump the items in the shrine where ever there is space available.

Below is the list of actions to done at Sanidanam:

•  Break the coconut (this may be in the Irumudi or outside of it) against the wall just before climbing the 18 holy steps.
•  After offering prayers to Lord Aiyappa, one can open the Irumudi. (But it is advisable to open the Irumudi after offering prayers to Maalikapurathamma)
• The coconut filled with ghee
• It can be broken and the ghee collected in a vessel can be provided to abhishekam to Lord Aiyappa. For this there is a separate queue at Sreekovil and a ticket has to be bought to do such kind of offerings. After abhishekam this ghee can be brought back.
•  During the season the queue would be very long, the next best this is to take the ghee filled coconut and break it open at ghee collection counter at Sreekovil. You can also buy small packets of ghee which was used for abhishekam at counters
• After removing the ghee from the coconut, the coconut is thrown into the homakundam, close to the main shrine in front of the pathinettampadi (18 holy steps)
• Some piece of coconut can be retained to mix it along with prasadam
• The rice from the Irumudi can be offered at many places. There are large vessels placed on the route from Sreekovil to Maalikapurathamma temple to collect rice. The rice can also be offered at Anna daanam counters as well. 
• Camphor, incense sticks (Agarbathi), rose water & sandal paste these have to be offered to Maalikapurathamma. These offering can be put into containers placed in the temple.
• Vibhoothi should be offered at the Maalikapurathamma temple. The vibhoothi packet should dropped into the box placed next to the naga devatha temple/
• Turmeric Powder should be offered to Naga devathas. The turmeric powder packet should be placed in the container near to the Naga temple. (It should not be opened and sprinkled around the temple)
• The mixture of Aval, malar, Kadali pazham, Jaggery, Kalkandam (Sugar Candy) & Dry Grapes should be separately put in a bag. A ticket has to be bought from the counter and this is offered to Maalikapurathamma. This offering with returned after performing puja. This later has to be mixed and taken back home as prasadam
• Before leaving the shrine, the last coconut has to be broken against the wall just next to the 18 holy steps