It was the last post-match presser of a long, long tour and, as has been the custom, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed up to take a few questions. And there were many that he needed to answer after a puzzling last over of the T20 match. He had, after all, refused to run two singles despite batting alongside a recognised batsman (Ambati Rayudu), and India ended up three runs short.
But staring at the press-conference hall’s door as you waited, you couldn’t help yourself from hoping that when it opened it wasn’t Dhoni but Rayudu who walked in. With Sanju Samson following closely behind. These were the two men Dhoni owed an explanation to. He didn’t put enough faith in Rayudu to give him the strike in the final over, and he didn’t show enough confidence in the young Samson to give him a maiden international cap.
On both occasions, he put ? or was seen as putting ? himself ahead of the two. If only for the presser, he decided to step aside, it would have been interesting to know how Rayudu and Samson felt. But it was only a hope ?s a fool’s hope ? and it was snuffed out quickly as the team’s media manager ushered Dhoni in.
“Rayudu just came into bat. He is not someone who is used to batting at No. 6-7 and can hit the ball straightaway,” the skipper said. Weird, because Dhoni wasn’t known to be a No.3 until he was promoted way up the order against Pakistan on April 5, 2005 (in just his second match, no less), and stuck a 123-ball 148 ? the finest innings by an Indian wicketkeeper till he bettered it himself.
wanted: a chance to shine
How will we know ? or Dhoni know ? what Rayudu, a fine middle-order batsman who was coming off two brilliant half-centuries in the ODIs, was capable of till he was given a chance to prove himself. In any case, it was not a World Cup final. It was a one-off, no-pressure, T20 game! Not many are going to remember it a few weeks down the line. But Rayudu would have remembered it were he not denied that opportunity to take India to win. He might have fluffed it, but Dhoni could have then put his arm around Rayudu’s shoulder and said, “Well tried.”
Rayudu, unfortunately, is still going to remember it, for all those might-have-beens and for his captain’s lack of trust in him. He would remember this all the more because it was his maiden T20 match.
Back to the press conference, then. Dhoni proceeded to add: “It’s important to back yourself, it’s my strength. He could have done it, but I took the responsibility.”
In an ideal world, Dhoni wouldn’t even have been playing this match. He would have taken a well-deserved break after two-and-a-half months of intense cricket and allowed someone like Samson, who has been a passenger here, to play in his stead. But Dhoni’s captaincy, one feels, emphasises too much on result. It’s not process oriented, as he often claims it is. Therefore, we see too many players who are no more than a support staff with the team. Ishwar Pandey and Parvez Rasool come to mind instantly. (Admittedly, Virat Kohli was the captain in the latter’s case. But he essentially followed Dhoni’s template).
The thing is, there is no denying that the current India captain is a great leader, in that he leads from the front. But is he a great leader of men? The only way to test that is with a hypothetical question. Had this brooding, grey-haired Dhoni and his younger, long-maned self found themselves in a similar situation to yesterday’s game, would current-day captain Dhoni have given the free-spirited slugger Dhoni the strike?