Sports
Former New Zealand captain Stephen feels that his Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni is still the best bet to lead the country for his experience
Updated : Sep 29, 2017, 05:08 PM IST
Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming might have the dubious record – along with Brian Lara – for maximum overseas Test losses as captain (16), but there's no doubting the fact that he was one of the most astute captains around in world cricket.
Indian skipper MS Dhoni, is just two Test defeats away from joining Fleming and Lara after the team's 1-3 drubbing in England. However, the former believed an under-pressure Dhoni was still India's best option as captain. Lest we forget, Fleming is the head coach of Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, and spends a few months in India formulating strategies with – who else – Dhoni.
Fleming is currently visiting India as the ambassador of Education New Zealand under the tagline 'ThinkNew'. But he thought it was best not to think new as far as India's Test captaincy was concerned.
"When your team is not playing well, you are under pressure as captain. How far the pressure goes and how long it goes on for till it becomes an issue to your board and the decision-makers is the question," Fleming said here on Friday.
"If you look at (England captain Alastair) Cook at the start of the series, he was exactly under the same pressure as Dhoni is now. So, for it to reverse so quickly is astonishing and I think that's what people are trying to get their heads around, and are quite rightly asking for answers," Fleming said.
However, the answers weren't coming from the former left-handed New Zealand opener. "The question is what the succession plan is, who the next in line is, who is putting pressure on Dhoni? It's fine just to say the captain should go but if you're just giving the problems to someone else, it's of no use. So, those questions need to be asked rather than just the emotional outburst of he's (Dhoni) got to go," Fleming said.
Asked if he thought Dhoni's heir apparent, Virat Kohli, was ready to take over the mantle and if not, how much more time should he be groomed for, Fleming shot back with more questions.
"I don't know. Look, it really depends on the group, what peers are around, where the player is in terms of their own development. Is Virat, after his series in England, ready to take over in the space that he will be in? And what impact will that have on the team? So there are a lot of questions to be asked, and you're still going to come back to 'is he going to be better than Dhoni'? Maybe Dhoni under pressure is still your best option. He's got the experience and I know he's got the respect in the dressing room. You just need the results to go your way, and then everything is alright," he said.
But Fleming did admit that the Indian players played badly in the last three Tests, and that the communication chain between the coaching staff under Duncan Fletcher, captain and the players might have been a touch weak.
"If the players play badly, in my experience as a coach, there's only so much you can do to arm the guys on the field. And sometimes reflecting that responsibility on the coaches, boards, administrators deflects from the real issue – that the Indian players played poorly in the last three Tests.
"Of course, the first point is to have a strong communication between the captain, coach and the players. Because, when you're under pressure, one of your first jobs is communication, otherwise you end up working in isolation and in groups and end up achieving very little. Reading the papers, I got the sense that the communication perhaps needs to be a little better," he added.
Asked if there were any players who could fit into and improve the current Indian Test squad, Fleming came up with Suresh Raina, another Chennai Super Kings player.
"I know he has some problems with the short ball but that can be ironed out," Fleming said. "As for looking for people, do you need new people or are these the best players in India? Look at Kohli, he's one of the great players but was found out over there. But he'll come back a lot stronger from that. There were a lot of good players put under pressure there and they succumbed. So you've got to be careful about not throwing out the bath water when that's actually the best bath you've got."
Fleming backs squad of Test specialists
Stephen Fleming backed the idea of having a squad of Test specialists for India, but warned that the players might have to be compensated for letting go the chance of playing in the IPL. "Some countries are doing it, where they're just year-marking the guys to play one form. And that might be something that India need to consider. Keeping in mind though that the IPL is such good competition that getting a player out of it, there might have to be remuneration or another form. There will have to be a pretty strong directive to keep them away, but becoming the best Test player could be enough. It's something they (the board) may have to consider for guys like (Cheteshwar) Pujara, (Murali) Vijay... who can play the short form very well but will keeping them out of it enhance their Test game? Probably."