Dhoni again
Now that I have established my credentials as Dhoni fanboy, I link to a Cricinfo blog where Samir Chopra takes Dhoni to task for not accounting for the weather (the test ended in a draw, with India just two wickets away from a win):
[F]or as long I’ve watched and followed cricket, the one thing Test captains have always done is planned around the weather [fifth day rain was forecast well in advance].
At tea-time on the third day of a Test, the world’s No. 3 Test team [India], had a lead [of 448 runs,] larger than any target successfully chased in the fourth innings. […]
Why did Dhoni need 600 plus runs on the board? To set attacking fields? Why were 500 runs not enough?[…]
If the idea was to get 600 runs on the board and go on all-out attack, then why was the Indian team’s demeanour in the post-tea session on the fourth day that of giggling schoolboys? They didn’t look like meanies that had put 600 runs on the board and were in your face thereafter. This slackness affected their catching as well; three catches went down on the fifth day itself.Dhoni wanted to save the match first. A win was a bonus. He didn’t get it and it didn’t matter to him. A series win was more important.
One of the things I liked about Dhoni is that he is non-conventional. He has taken bold decisions, which might look ugly from cricketing viewpoint (setting a defensive leg-side field and stem runs). But then, as Samir says:
[If Dhoni] is going to be a truly different Indian Test captain, he will need to snap out of a conservative mind-set[…] And part of the way to do it is to back yourself and your team to win in lots of different settings [and back] your bowlers to not get worried if someone does attack them a bit during their fourth-innings chase. Such expressions of confidence go beyond making your own team more secure; they also send out a message to your opponents. Doing it the first time might be hard but it can rapidly become a habit. Try it, MSD. I think you’ll like it. You have the team for it.
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