Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has always been a captain who has never shied away from fielding a youngster in the team. His way of thinking may raise few eyebrows and have landed him into controversies, but that has never stopped him from giving chances to young players. And a prime example to that is the way Cheteswar Pujara was promoted to the crucial number three position against New Zealand ahead of Virat Kohli.
The decision has been bang on with Pujara scoring his maiden century to help India beat New Zealand comprehensively. Pujara is a class batsman and he did justify the faith shown on him by his captain.
And it is not the first time. It has been since the initial days since he took over the reins. People might say that his decisions in past have created rift within the team, something which are only speculations. But then what can be established is that the standard of the team has gone up, barring a couple of series in 2011-2012.
With the likes of Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Cheteswar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, Team India have become much fitter and the fielding has improved vastly, which was not the case earlier. Giving importance to the young players makes them feel they are an integral part of the team and this is what has seen them lift their performance in every match.
For an instance, when Ashwin went for a bad run in his last tour against Australia, Dhoni still showed enough faith on him and gave him a chance at home against New Zealand. And what happened next, we all know. Ashiwn took 12 wickets in the match to help India beat the Kiwis by an innings.
Giving chance to youngsters and showing faith on them is a bold step that has gone in Dhoni’s favour more than not.
A youngster after knowing that he has the support of the captain does feel relaxed and instead of worrying about his place in the match, can perform to his limit. Not very player start off their career in a grand way but then if they are talented and have the support of their skipper, they will sooner or later start playing to their quality.
This is what Dhoni does and is one of the mantras behind him becoming such successful captain.
People may say many things about his decisions and his willingness to promote young players might have raised lot of hue and cry, but then it has brought results for India which should go down as a lesson to future Indian skippers.
By Indian Sports News Network
