India's captaincy conundrum

As a busy home season gets underway for India, it has been disheartening to see the team go backwards. As If the twin whitewashes in England and Australia were not bad enough, a home Test series defeat for the first time in 8 years followed by a first ODI home series defeat in three years has actually shown the future to be not only uncertain but bleak too. India continues to be let down by the senior players which has left the youngsters looking confused and the team looking rudderless. India is also struggling to come to terms with the retirements of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman from tests. Also, Sachin Tendulkar retiring from ODIs has left the team floundering especially in bowler-friendly conditions like in the recent series against Pakistan.

That India is now looking quite inept in all forms of the game should set the alarm bells ringing. One cannot take each defeat in its isolation and convince oneself that it was mostly ill-luck like the 5 minute rain-break in the World T20 before the start of the Australian innings which made it difficult for a wet ball to be gripped by the spinners or the post-tea collapse in the second test at Mumbai against England which ultimately turned the series on its head. Teams unaccustomed to winning tend to lose from any position as they forget the habit of taking control of a game. Everything that can go wrong seems to be for India and no one seems capable to arrest this slide. The blame lies at many doorsteps – the captaincy, the players and the selections. However, while the players (with retirements vacating spots and new talent emerging) and the selections (with some chopping and changing) have started to sort themselves out the question of captaincy remains a vexed one.

The team has stumbled from one defeat to another and inevitably the Captain’s role has to be come under scrutiny and one has to ask if it is time for change and if there are realistically any alternatives available.  The options are limited because India is in transition and that means there are either cricketers who are nearing the end of their careers like Tendulkar and Sehwag or youngsters like Kohli and Pujara. Of the others only Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni could be considered to be in the prime of their careers - with at least 6-7 more years of international cricket still left in them.

Gambhir ought to have been the natural choice to succeed Dhoni in at least one of the formats for India. However, his own recent performances have fallen well short of what he could have delivered. As it is, the pressure of underperforming is playing on his mind which can be seen in some daft shot selections and panicky running between the wickets. Also, Gambhir’s experience as a Captain is not very extensive. His most recent high-profile captaincy stint was leading the Kolkata Knightriders to an IPL triumph earlier this year but that really cannot be a benchmark for leading the national team.  The best player need not be the Captain but a Captain ought to be an automatic selection choice too. For someone who is considered a certainty for India in all three formats Gambhir’s form recently has been patchy at best. His test match average is 28 since the West Indies tour of 2011 while his ODI average is a far healthier 39 since that same tour. However, he does give the impression of someone who is not as sure of himself now as he has been in the past.

On a positive note if there is one thing that Gambhir never seems to be short of it is the intensity. Maybe the additional responsibility of captaincy will get him to channelise the intensity for the team. He has had the experience of international cricket, has done exceedingly well for India at least till the 2011 WC and knows by now the ups and downs a player faces in his career. He is likely to take the Captaincy as additional responsibility but would also be aware of the tremendous opportunity it could be.

If Gambhir is not the choice but India still needs a change at the top the alternative is to throw a youngster into the deep-end. By far, the most suitable from amongst the youngsters is Virat Kohli. Giving a youngster the captaincy is a double-edged sword. While South Africa have gone from strength to strength under Graeme Smith who was made Captain at the very young age of 23 we have seen how Tendulkar struggled to handle the additional responsibility. There is always a danger that a career could be harmed with captaincy which is given too early and right now Kohli along with Cheteshwara Pujara is one of India’s brightest young talents. The ability is certainly there and it is now up to Kohli to translate that into consistent performances especially in the tests. His struggles against England in the recently concluded test series and against Pakistan in the ODIs – both in difficult batting conditions  - showed his batting is still not the finished thing.

Kohli has fair exposure to captaincy having led the Under-19 Indian team to a World Cup win and also captaining the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Again, captaining a u-19 or an IPL team is a completely different ball game to leading the national team.

A losing team always looks a bunch of individuals torn by mistrust and as India has started losing regularly tales of dissent in the team especially involving the high-profile players have surfaced with regularity. There might be absolutely nothing in those except an over-zealous media looking for smoke where there is no fire. However, India would be stepping into unchartered waters if Kohli is made Captain and if the tales of dissent are true then Kohli will be saddled with responsibility without having the seniority to assert himself. The role of the selectors and the board would then become increasingly critical in backing Kohli and getting the errant players to fall in line or face the prospect of being dropped.

Finally, India does have the option of continuing with Dhoni. Maybe a heart-to-heart chat between the Board, the selectors and Dhoni could lead to resolving some issues. The team is going through a phase of rebuilding and it might be unfair to judge Dhoni in this state of flux. However, for this to work Dhoni has to be backed over a period of 12 to 15 months. Give him the XI that he wants and make him an integral part of the rebuilding process so that he is comfortable with the players he picks including a large part of the squad rather than being saddled with a team whose composition which makes him nervous.

No one would like to keep leading a team which loses and Dhoni more than anyone else would be aware that results have to improve. Dhoni might also have realised that a calm exterior is excellent in a pressure-cooker atmosphere like an ODI or a T20 where his calmness can rub off on the fielders and bowlers. However, test cricket needs a more thinking and proactive captain and having seen the past results Dhoni is likely to change the way he approaches it. There were already signs of that change in approach in the test series against England.

These are interesting times for Indian cricket. There is much uncertainty over almost every aspect of the national team and it would be up to a strong leader to pull the team out of this rut like Sourav Ganguly did in 2000 when he took over at the helm.