Happily, Dhoni seems a tough nut to crack

Happily, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has shown himself to be a tough nut to crack — and not merely because he shrugged off a first-ball blow on the head with such aplomb. The century at Nagpur was badly needed — as much to win the match as to dispel the pressure that was growing on him — and he handled both crises admirably.

When advice for a captain starts coming from all quarters, especially on which position he should bat though he has been amongst the runs, the message is clear: his captaincy, not his batting, is under scrutiny. If the team was winning, such discussions would have been superfluous.

With Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir batting at 1, 2 and 3 and Yuvraj returning to the side, debate on whether Dhoni should play higher than No.5 was a tad misplaced I thought, but indicative of the growing impatience in the environment with the team’s lack of success in recent times. This was unhealthy in the context of the 2011 World Cup because any change at the helm now could be disruptive.

Incidentally, Dhoni was the third Indian captain I can recall who has been hit on the head in an international fixture. I did not, of course, see Nari Contractor being felled by ‘chucker’ Charlie Griffith’s snorter at Barbados in 1961-62 (the brave man survived to tell the tale), but the incident roused the debate against throwing to a new crescendo.

A cricketer’s head remained the most vulnerable part of his body despite the protective gear, and there were two other subsequent developments in the game to reduce the scope of grave injury, of which at least one can perhaps be traced directly to the Contractor episode.

By the mid-1970s, batsmen had started wearing helmets (followed shortly after by close-in fielders and wicket-keepers) and by the next decade fast bowlers were restricted from bowling more than two bouncers an over. Some saw the latter as the residual trauma of Bodyline (and Contractor’s injury), though more likely this was done to limit the ‘intimidating’ influence of West Indian pacers.

The blow to Dhoni’s head, however, is closer in character and reaction to what happened with Mohd Azharuddin, which I saw at Lord’s in 1990. Chasing a mammoth England score of 653 in the first Test, India were in trouble when skipper Azhar walked out to bat. He looked to be out of rhythm and it was hardly a surprise when a bouncer from the fiery Devon Malcolm struck him on the helmet.

But this also suddenly awakened Azhar to his true self, as it were, and for the next couple of hours, the spectators were treated to one of the finest batting displays seen at the Mecca of cricket. He cut, drove and flicked with such style and panache that his hundred was scored off just 88 deliveries, compelling the likes of Mike Brearley to compare him to Ranjitsinhji. Alas, Azhar’s superb 121 was not good enough to save the match.

This marks a clear point of departure from Dhoni’s blazing effort at Nagpur, which helped India win handsomely by 99 runs and bring this one-day series truly alive. In the event, it also quelled — at least for the time being — the debate over where he should bat. But the real victory is for Dhoni the captain, not batsman.

In the recent past it had often appeared that he was somewhat bored of the job and would allow things to drift, which was quite in contrast to his earlier bubbly, proactive approach which helped him get the best out of his team. In Nagpur, he led from the front.
Former Australia captain Richie Benaud says, “Captaincy is 90 per cent luck and 10 percent skill, but don’t try it without that 10 per cent.’’. For Dhoni’s luck to see a major turnaround after Nagpur, he will need to be demonstrably in charge to make things work.