Fits the bill

With the appointment of MS Dhoni as captain of the one-day cricket team for the home series against Australia and Pakistan, the chain of events set off by Rahul Dravid’s sudden resignation from captaincy has found partial closure — partial, because the decision about the Test captaincy is still to be taken.

The choice of Dhoni is by no means unexpected, notwithstanding the debate over the splitting of the captaincy for the Test and one-day teams.

The wicket-keeper-batsman is not new to captaincy — he was already the captain of the national Twenty20 side while Dravid was still captain of the Test and one-day teams.

The selector’s choice of a young captain makes sense. With the core group of senior players — such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly — in the twilight of their careers and unlikely to be around four years hence, there is a clear need for a captain who is young enough to have the nucleus of a future World Cup squad built around him.

Dhoni fits the bill: not only is he a certainty in the one-day side, he also has enough experience in one-day internationals to command respect and carry the team with him.

Having said that, it is hard to understand the benefit of postponing the announcement of the Test captaincy. With two tough Test series coming up — against Pakistan and Australia in quick succession — an early announcement would have given the new captain time to prepare himself. Besides, it would also have put an end to needless suspense and intrigue-mongering by all and sundry. But for now, speculation is set to continue.

There is however a whiff of pragmatism in the selectors’ decision to rotate the players for the seven-match one-day series against Australia.

With the cricketing calendar becoming hopelessly crowded, it is no longer realistic to expect the same crop of players to play without succumbing to injury or burning out. India needs to enlarge its pool of players with international-level calibre and experience.

Perhaps, given that the forthcoming series are against Pakistan — you really don’t want to lose this one — and Australia — the toughest — the selectors seem to have erred on the side of caution by not giving opportunity to new players.

Even Rohit Sharma, who went on the England tour and returned without playing any one-dayer, is not in the team. The Board might consider that if it is serious about planning for the future, it would do well to recognise that the grooming of a young captain is done best alongside the nurturing of a young team.