DEFENDING DHONI

Let me make it clear first that I don’t think Mahendra Singh Dhoni deserves to be in India’s Test team anymore. He was never a top-class wicketkeeper. He was in the team because, as he himself pointed out after claiming the 200th victim in Tests, he was a “package”. Aggressive batting and smart captaincy made him that. Batting has failed him for quite some time now, and the less said about his captaincy in the longest version of the game, the better. So I am not here to defend Dhoni’s place in the Test team. Nor am I defending his insipid captaincy in England and Australia this season. What I am out to defend is his integrity, which I think, is quite extraordinary.

Some of the criticism he has attracted in the wake of India’s seven Test defeats on the trot abroad is personal, illogical and inappropriate. I find it strange that he is being hauled up for some unusually honest remarks and some critics are calling him arrogant for saying things any humble professional should say.

The two things that have drawn most criticism for Dhoni since the Sydney loss are: India’s go-karting session and the Indian captain’s comment that he may retire from Tests in 2013.

While I, too, am still angry with the Indian team for skipping practice after huge losses and opting for go-karting, I don’t understand why that should be counted as an example of Dhoni’s arrogance. Didn’t the whole team go? There haven’t been any reports that the captain had forced anybody to go or the team management had made it mandatory to go. In fact, vice-captain Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid et al did not go, giving rise to the notion that there is a rift in the team. Let’s not go into that. Even those who went were obviously not taken on gunpoint by the skipper. So why blame his attitude and say this is something he has instilled into the team during his tenure? We are talking about grown-ups here, isn’t it? Is it possible to spoon feed them one person’s attitude? Preposterous!

Dhoni’s comment that he may give up playing one format (obviously Tests) to be fit and in-form for the 2015 World Cup has also received caustic criticism from all quarters. Everybody has interpreted it as proof of Dhoni’s lack of interest or love for Test cricket. Maybe that is the case, but if you believe Dhoni does not deserve to be in our Test side then why are you angry? You want him out of the team anyway. What I derive from that comment is: Dhoni, being the reasonable he is, has understood that he cannot perform in Tests outside the subcontinent. One look at the Future Tours Programme and you will know Team India don’t step outside the subcontinent before 2013. So our World Cup-winning captain doesn’t want to be the team’s burden, which he has been in England and Australia. While the more knowledgible cricket pundits see a selfish agenda there, I see the opposite: an effort to put the team’s interest before one’s reputation. Somebody who knows his limitation and works accordingly should be respected, not lambasted.

But, of course, critics say the Chennai Super Kings captain is more interested in the quick money of the Indian Premier League than the rigours of Test cricket. I have already refuted the point of taking his retirement as his disinterest in Tests, now come to the point of his interest in IPL riches. This point is the perfect example of Indian media’s holier-than-thou attitude. While everybody in every walk of life is running after money, we expect our cricketers to be altruists and philanthropists of the first order. Absurd! Doctors working in government hospitals practise privately, we don’t object. School teachers run private coaching centres, we don’t object. Media houses get into private agreements, we don’t object. But we all become knights in shining armours if our cricketers want to play IPL.

Unlike teachers or doctors or journalists, cricketers do not belong to the salaried class. So I don’t see a problem if they want to earn big through IPL and secure their future. Once they hang up their boots, neither the critics nor I would be there to look after their families. Playing for the country should obviously be the priority but I don’t see Dhoni is preferring IPL over the country. Had that been the case, the man would not have wanted to continue playing ODIs and play the next World Cup. There is no reason to liken him to Chris Gayle who gives a damn to playing for the West Indies, and is happy playing in T20 leagues all over the world. I won’t blame Dhoni if he, like Shaquille O’Neal, says: “I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.”

My liking for Dhoni, the Test cricketer, has gone down after his spate of poor performances but my respect for Dhoni, the man, has gone up a few notches after he said: “I am the culprit” after India lost in two-and-a-half days at the WACA. Criticise him as much as you like, but tell me honestly, how many times have you heard an Indian captain blame himself like that after a horrible series loss?

I believe we are all up in arms against Dhoni not because he has presided over some of our worst losses in history but because we don’t like any successful person leaving his place gracefully, even though we say just the opposite. We actually like to see the person struggle so that we can pinch him, kick him, devour him. We become angry if we are denied that chance. I remember the helpless anger of the opposition when Jyoti Basu gave up the chief ministership of West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee went to the extent of saying the Left Front should seek fresh mandate even though it had clear majority in the Assembly.

Are we a sadist nation? Maybe. But can’t we give Dhoni a break from our sadism, considering he has also given us some of the best moments in our cricketing history?