It might be time for a new Test captain

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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India did put up a valiant fight but in the end lost the series as was initially expected. The loss wasn’t disappointing for India should grit and matched South Africa for most of the series. 

The series itself was a disappointing consolation gift to Cricket South Africa and the fans given by grumpy old fat-bellied icy cold men at the BCCI. Another 2 Test series awaits India in New Zealand. Does this depict BCCI’s apathy towards Test cricket? Do they really believe playing ‘token’ series are enough to whet the appetite of Test hungry fans? Hopefully 2014 will bring some sense to cricket’s richest board. 

Positives from the tour: Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.
 
All three have shown they can bat outside the sub-continent. In Virat, India has a batsman who can score hundreds and also maintain a good run-rate. In Pujara, India has unearthed a batsman who can bat for days. He will be the fulcrum around which the other batsmen play. Ajinkya Rahane showed he can shepherd the tail and play the big shots if needed. 

Rohit Sharma couldn’t grab this opportunity but failures in 4 innings are too few to look beyond him. India’s batting is in good hands. Unfortunately the same can’t be said about the bowling. 

Ishant Sharma still doesn’t know where to bowl to get wickets. 

Zaheer Khan lacked intensity. He did pick up 5 wickets in the first Test. Smith, Du Plessis, Philander and Morkel in the first innings and Kallis in the second. Graeme Smith had scored 68 by the time Zaheer ‘showed up’ to pick his wicket. Yes, Smith was dropped early on in the slips but why couldn’t Zaheer create more opportunities? Kallis was unlucky to be given out. In the second innings, Zak bowled 34 overs at 3.97 per over picking up just one wicket in helpful conditions. He was India’s most expensive bowler. In the second Test he picked up Steyn and Robin Peterson who were trying to score quick runs. 

Zaheer is a smart bowler. He tries to set the batsman up with swing. While it works beautifully against domestic batsmen, he needs a little more pace against international players. Currently, if he were to be compared, he would be compared with Kallis or Watson; bowlers who run in calmly trying to outsmart batsmen. Sadly for India, he doesn’t contribute with the bat and is supposed to be the spearhead. He needs to bowl faster or resign himself to being a bowling mentor. 

The second Test also witnessed the surprise inclusion of Ravindra Jadeja. He did pick up 6 wickets but was a brain-dead mistake with the bat. On a dry and cracking pitch that was offered at Durban, it’s hard to imagine that Ashwin wouldn’t have picked up wickets. He would definitely have offered more with the bat. 

The reason for Jadeja’s inclusion is the simplicity of his bowling. He offers a bit of conservative control that Dhoni so desperately craves when he captains abroad. However, Ashwin bowled 36 overs for just 83 in the second innings of the first Test on a track that wasn’t aiding spin. Did he deserve to be dropped? If yes, shouldn’t he have been replaced by Ojha? If the ‘all-rounder’ prefix was Dhoni’s reason, why did he feel the need to strengthen the batting even after the first Test performance? 

As far as his captaincy in Tests goes, it isn’t aggressive enough. His selections, at least on foreign soil, are based on ‘how can I not lose’ rather than ‘how can I win’; which is why he prefers to contain batsmen rather than pick wickets. His reluctance to take the new ball on Day 4 was more about the ball being softer for the batsmen to hit than about reverse swing. Bowlers hardly feel like running in when the ball loses its seam and hardness. It appears Dhoni doesn’t believe he can win Tests outside the sub-continent which reflects in his lack of faith in his bowlers. 

Add to his conservative captaincy in Tests, Dhoni’s performance with the bat isn’t awe-inspiring. In his last 11 innings, he has scored 235 runs, with no fifty and 2 not outs; his average is 26. He’s never been a great Test batsman. He has tried to adjust by reducing his back lift and getting good strides forward. Unfortunately he lacks the technical expertise to counter swing and seam. 

Dhoni’s amazing ODI credentials have made his Test failures somewhat unimportant. Of course it isn’t time to drop him just yet. But the reserve keeper shouldn’t be in the squad just as backup to an injured Dhoni. He should be a viable option if Dhoni fails to score runs. 

Looking at Kohli, Shami and some of the others, they do have the belief that they can win a Test series away. They want to win. And it’s a belief backed by their ability. It’s time India found a captain who believes the same way. If Dhoni does, he isn’t showing it. Perhaps it’s time India appointed a new Test captain.

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