Wanted: The re-education of Mahi

The poise with which his chapped lips and cocked jaw face the harsh spotlight in which he is uncomfortably positioned, convey the impression that he is participating in a tape-ball street match back in his native town of Ranchi. On another planet, far away from the illusion of such an unburdened environment, reality strikes. Team India, a distinctly jaded and disjointed unit, has lost not only two successive Test matches to England and its apparently secure grip on the numero uno position in the five-day format of the game, but pride. That sense of self-worth a nation of a billion-plus looks to its cricketers to deliver.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is, uncomfortably, no longer on the right end of eligibility when it comes to awarding the benefit of doubt. And he faces his sternest examination yet.

Seeking in vain the positive body language that once prefixed to his manner the term uber-cool and that intangible attribute referred to as the Midas touch, he has struggled as much as wicketkeeper and batsman, as a leader of men. If it would be an understatement to point out that his woeful glove and willow work has impacted the team, it would not be an exaggeration to claim that his captaincy, at once uninspired and indecisive, has contributed in no small measure to the knives being sharpened against him.

Far removed from the all-out aggression and uncompromising attitude demanded by the marquee contest of the season, he has failed to fulfil the fundamental requirements of his job: leading by example and lifting the morale of his team-mates. Somewhere, between that epochal night when he dared conventional thinking by promoting himself in the batting order above Yuvraj Singh and unleashing an incandescent innings to secure for India the World Cup, and an extended break after the fourth season of the Indian Premier League that saw him withdrawing from the ODI series in the Caribbean and then timidly not pressing for victory in the Dominica Test, the Mahi we were familiar with–the one with the ability to transmit calm and repeatedly pull out conjurer’s tricks–has been replaced by a laidback version stripped of his magical touch. And with the man himself conceding after the devastating defeat at Trent Bridge that he “didn’t have any tricks left,” the alarm raised by critics can only be seen as genuine.

It is not as if destiny has denied him opportunities to redeem himself. Fortune favours the brave–and he was once blessed with that quality and its attendant rewards–but he has spurned chances to seize the initiative. Much of the blame for England escaping from 62-5 to eventually declare at 269-6 in the second innings of the Lord’s Test must be thrust on Captain Dhoni, who inexplicably extended to the till-then rampaging Ishant Sharma the licence of an extended break after the lunch interval. Similarly, he cannot absolve himself of guilt in the matter of England being allowed to recover from 124-8 to reach 221 in the first innings at Trent Bridge. While MSD has only himself to blame for his current plight, it has not helped his case that his every step in recent times has drawn detractors. If Kapil Dev dubbed his decision to turn bowler at Lord’s “a mockery of Test cricket”, the Indian team’s appearance at a charity-raising event organised by him, at a time when the Indian High Commission in London had scheduled dinner for the players, raised much heat. Even the decision to recall Ian Bell—declared run-out in unique circumstances—in the second innings at Trent Bridge has drawn debate on Dhoni’s sense of fair play, for he had himself appealed to the umpire for the dismissal. This particular incident offers an insight into his current state of mind. Confused.

Belief in himself and his decisions forms a facet of his personality that has let him execute his varied roles with much success. Reliving the pain of avoidable defeat against England would be a small price to pay for Indian cricket if he finds his former self. Indeed, the re-education of Mahendra Singh Dhoni starts now.