The clamour for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s removal from captaincy is more out of pique and dejection at what happened in Sri Lanka rather than sound cricket logic, says a a column in Deccan Chronicle. “The defeat in Sri Lanka must be seen in context of the highly fickle nature of T20 cricket. True, Dhoni made some inexplicable decisions — particularly in the key match against Australia when he preferred to bowl Rohit Sharma over a regular spinner and India lost their grip on the match. But overall, the team did win four matches out of five,” says the column.
“Where Dhoni suffers is in his track record over the past 15 months in all formats. The BCCI should bifurcate the captaincy: leave Dhoni to lead in Tests and ODIs and choose somebody else for the T20s. This might not be a bad idea for Dhoni too. Even if he plays in T20, the fact of not being in charge would give him that mental respite,” says the column.
Meanwhile The Mail Today writes that the criticism of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the Indian team failed to make it to the semi-finals of the ICC World T20 has died down pretty fast, but the men who matter in the BCCI should see this as a wake-up call.
“It seems like yesterday that India won their only World T20 title in 2007 but three subsequent editions have not seen the India team progress beyond the Super Eights stage. It is clear today that as far as the Indian team is concerned, there are no fresh faces in the squad and we have been persisting with almost half a dozen 30-plus players,” says the column, adding that the T20 format is for younger players and in India the previous selection committee, headed by K Srikkanth kept picking the same set of players with no emphasis on grooming fresh talent.
“It's close to a fortnight after the new selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil has taken over. There have been no quotes from Patil or the new group of selectors, but if they are serious about their job, they have a lot to do in the months ahead. The debate over one captain for all three formats - T20, ODIs and Tests - should be revived and we need to take a call on whether Dhoni is the best man for three jobs,” says the column.
The outspoken Mohinder Amarnath, who was expected to become the chief national selector, found himself out of the panel itself because he questioned Mahendra Singh Dhoni's retention as Test captain, says a report in The Times Of India, adding that VVS Laxman, who retired in pique, did not invite Dhoni to his little post-retirement celebration at home that included all other team members. The two incidents clearly showed that all was not well in the team.
“Further, the fact that Dhoni and opening bat Virender Sehwag do not see eye-to-eye, to put it mildly, has been an open secret for some time now. There's also very little doubt about where Sehwag's opening partner Gautam Gambhir's priorities lie,” says the report, adding that until last year, all these stories were dismissed as 'rumours'; but today, nobody even bothers to deny them.
In fact, even players who have just about managed to warm the Team India bench a couple of times, are privy to this 'feud'. "Ego," say some, while others point to "difference in thinking between Dhoni and Sehwag". Whatever, it certainly isn't helping India's cause. It's all the more worrying because the 'rifts' only seem to happen more often when at least two-three of these senior players are not exactly performing at even their half-best.
