Did Dhoni Deliberately Commit Those Mistakes?
M S Dhoni is being criticised for his mistakes in the first two tests of India – England cricket test series. But I am presenting to the readers his mistakes committed in the earlier successful World Cup also. Because he was successful, critics did not harp on those mistakes.
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DID DHONI DELIBERATELY COMMIT THOSE MISTAKES?
M.S. Dhoni is under attack from his critics for the defeat of India in the first two tests against England. But even when he was the successful captain in the World Cup Cricket 2011, he committed many errors. I reproduce my article written to a privately circulated journal about India’s match against South Africa. Readers can compare his mistakes in the World Cup and his present mistakes and come to their own conclusion.
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M.S. Dhoni is a great captain and this is well acknowledged by all cricket pundits all over the nation and the world. This fact has also been proven by the consistency of the results that he has produced both in test cricket and in one day internationals. Dhoni is also liked by all the players in the team because he does not play any politics while dealing with them. Dhoni has got a wonderful cricketing brain which produces strategies at different times depending on situations to decide the match in his team’s favour whether he is playing for India or for his IPL side.
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Taking all these things into consideration, it is difficult to believe that Dhoni committed many grave errors in India’s match against South Africa in the world cup. First, Dhoni did not accelerate the score when he came in to bat in the slog overs. Slog overs are meant to be hit all around the field and not to show one’s defensive skills. Had Dhoni accelerated the score and scored a couple of boundaries and sixes, 15 to 20 runs could have been added to India’s tally and that would have changed the result in our favour.
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When wickets were tumbling one after the other, for a knowledgeable spectator, it looked unnatural. Not that such things do not happen in cricket. But the point is that India at one time was 267 for one and the remaining 9 wickets fell in the space of 29 runs. How it happened? Batsman after batsman threw down his wicket in the process of hurrying for runs. Where was the need for it? What was Dhoni’s role in all these?
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Both Munaf Patel and Asish Nehra found a place in the team which was a surprise considering that South African batsmen were adept in playing medium pace bowlers. Dhoni could have retained Chawla in the team or brought Ashwin Ravichandran in the team to add to the variety of spin. Along with Harbhajan Singh, it could have made a good difference. Why did Dhoni not do a meaningful selection?
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In the final over, Dhoni could have reserved Zaheer Khan who was doing an excellent job. Even in the 49th over, Zaheer conceded only 4 runs. Why did Dhoni fail to do this? He could have reserved the last over to Harbhajan Singh who could have prevented the South African tail end batsmen in scoring 13 runs off the last over which was a great task. But knowingly, Dhoni handed over the last over to Asish Nehra and the country was let down.
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Dhoni himself took responsibility for this wrong decision in his press conference and even apologised to the nation. But he did not speak about other mistakes that equally cost the nation the vital match and the chance to head the group. But looking back and analysing, one also feels that these mistakes or at least some of them look deliberate. Certainly these are not the mistakes one would expect from a strategist and experienced captain like Dhoni. If these mistakes were deliberately made to cost the match, what could have been the reason?
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Wait, I am not going to accuse Dhoni of match fixing. He is much more honest to even think of such a heinous crime. What I am trying to say is that Dhoni could have taken a view that losing this match against South Africa could benefit India. Had we won the match, most probably we could have topped the group and will be playing a quarter final clash against Pakistan. Now because of this loss, we will be pitted against New Zealand or Sri Lanka. Not that playing Pakistan is a difficult thing and we are afraid of. In fact in all our previous world cup matches, we had defeated Pakistan. But there is a difference this time. In all our previous encounters, we had met Pakistan in the group stages but this time we will meet them in the knock out stage which will put a great pressure on us given the type of Indo Pakistan relations outside cricketing sphere. Now because of this loss, South Africa will be taking on Pakistan in the quarter finals which will suit us. Kudos to Dhoni if this was what his thinking before the match.
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