Why Indian team was choker under Ganguly's captaincy while playing finals of tournaments?
I'm done with this debate. You can't do much when someone's closing his years and shouting his own,. and writing an essay again isn't worth it. Ganguly taught India how to go for a win? Okay, Dhoni taught them how to beat the champions, be the champion, win matches out of nowhere like the CT final, make comebacks like the WC 2011 and so many matches, how to pull out of a tight situation and win most of the matches that gets close. But one thing what Dhoni taught us what may well be overlooked by people other than genuine cricket fans, which may well change our future. That is the importance of fieliding. And we saw that in the CT. Dhoni taught us that winning matches isn't all about being aggressive, he taught us that you may not be a star to win matches for your nation. If Ganguly taught us how to dream, Dhoni taught us how to.turn them into reality. If dropping out.of form stars is selfishness, yes he is selfish. If supporting youngsters like Kohli, Jadeja, Raina, Yadav, Ashwin, the future stars is selfishness, yes he is selfish. If having an average of 50+ @ a SR of 85+ is selfishness, he is selfish. Dhoni is India's best ever middle order batsman, Sachin is the best ever top order batsman. Ganguly supported stars like Yuvraj, Zaheer Khan, Bhajji, Sehwag? Well, they made their comebacks under Dhoni. You must credit their coaches for their talent, and Dhoni for a second.opportunity. And you never know, the current.pool.of.youngsters may well be the future stars. You saw the previous two matches, India's coordination in the field wasn't that good. Anyways, if just teaching your team to dream makes you the best captain ever, then Ganguly is the best captain, but remember, fulfilling them is more important. A building just with a strong base is useless. And last but not the least, Dhoni himself built our current team.
Do you think Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy is coming to an end? Why or why not?
I will answer to whether his test captaincy deserves to end. For starters, have a look at this batting line-up : Vijay, Dhawan, Pujara, Kohli, DK, Rahane, Rohit. Suddenly, we have 7 proper batsmen who can set up targets and chase down targets overseas! Now, coming to his captaincy. I know every captain goes through tough phases in his career. But which other captain has gone winless overseas for more than 3 years?! (The winless streak will cross 3 years before india play their next test, against england). He has failed to win across different countries,with different bowling attacks and across different batting generations. 14 tests is too large to bank on the excuse of not having attacking bowlers. Dhoni has a say in the squad selection and is completely responsible for his team selection. When he himself selects Ishant in the team, he and his supporters have no right to use the excuse of having Ishant in the team,to explain the losses/non-wins. Defensive Dhoni hurts India again. This article on cricinfo, by Sid Monga, explains what exactly is wrong with Dhoni's strategies with respect to field settings and how this mindset is costing us the small moments! To add to MSD, we have Duncan Fletcher who decided to call off a chase of 86 in 15 overs ,with 7 wickets in hand, as we were leading the series 1-0! (That is the last series with an overseas test victory!!). This is some level of defensiveness!Dhoni was the ideal person to take-over the captaincy after Kumble. His calm and cool presence soothed the egos of heavy-weights in the dressing room. His main responsibility,off the field, was to make sure the dressing room atmosphere was smooth and rift-free. But now, we are a very young team and the captain has to do something more than just keep the atmosphere cool. We need a passionate leader, a la Dada. I really think the time for MSD has come to hand over the test captaincy and concentrate on CWC-2015. The most popular choice will be Kohli and the offbeat choice will be Pujara (fyi, selectors have groomed him for captaincy during the various A tours). People arguing that they are too young need to remember the experience of MSD when he captained T20WC-2007 or the experience/age of Greame Smith when he started captaining SA.
With a clear generational shift in Indian cricket, what can we expect from the new team?
Can they? Yes surely, they can. Will they? That remains to be seen.Firstly, Dhoni's words after India's victory in World Cup 2011.Now we can close the chapter. We need to build a team againIt meant rebuilding from scratch. It meant past laurels were not going to matter. That's where the arguments for getting in Yuvi, Gambhir and Sehwag fail. The trio didn't make their opportunities count. Apart from Yuvi's spark in an one off T20, it has been a total no-show. The averages of 18,19 and 20 speak for themselves from the pic below.A list of batting averages of Indian players for the past 2 years.India have picked a very potent side heading into the World Cup. The batting and bowling departments are oozing with confidence and key players are in prime form. Almost all the core players who are expected to be picked in the World Cup final 16, average more than 40. While most of the matches might have been played in the Indian subcontinent, the above players have fared exceeding well under trying conditions in England. Same goes with the bowling. We have variety in this department. And for the first time our bowling looks promising. Bhuvi is a bowler who relies on swing, Shami can make the batsman dance to his reverse swings and yorkers, and Umesh can cause nightmares with his bounce and pace. Even our spin twins are on songs. (Read Ashwin and Aksar). As for Zak, injury hit him at the wrong time. From then on, it has been a downward spiral for him. Both him and Harbhajan blew their chances. Dropping match winners like Yuvi or Gambhir who have brought laurels for the country will surely hurt fans across India. But, cricket in India is a demanding game. No player can have a guaranteed place in the playing XI. A generational shift was in the making, and we can finally say it is complete. When legends like Dravid and Ganguly can be unceremoniously dropped from the ODI team, I see no wrong in dropping the under performers. In a nutshell, the team looks great. A solid performance in the tri series down under should seal the favourite tag.Stats from: ESPN Cricinfo Thanks for the A2A Pratyush Singh.