What is Dhoni's contribution to the team?

[ZodiaC]

^ Also sending Pujara up the order. That was a very good and bold move in the circumstances. It requires lot of guts to do so. This is one aspect about Dhoni's captaincy which we don't pay much heed to,the faith showed on the youngsters. Don't forget he was the one who gave PK the new ball in the CB series final,gave Amit Mishra the ball ahead of Anil Kumble and sending CP is the latest case in point. Agreed that his decisions are baffling at times but when they work they are absolutely magical. Now you call it luck or tactical acumen ,that's your discretion.

Agree, sending up Pujara was a good move, but rather logical than bold imo. Bro, PK was our new ball bowler since his debut right? Why say only about the finals? And its not as if we had any choices? :dontknow: His decisions are indeed baffling most of the times for mortals like me and it will stay that way too :--D

[ZodiaC]

I have never rated Dhoni highly for his batting.His technique is destined to fail in swinging and bouncing conditions.But he is an excellent WK. But we cannot forget his captaincy.He has earned the respect of all his team mates.Even the likes of Sachin Dravid Harbhajan dont have any problem playing under his captaincy.His man management skills are excellent.He can motivate the team.Almost always keeps his cool under pressure.So we dont have any better candidate for captaincy than Dhoni right now in India. So IMO his contribution is immense.

He's a good batsman. Not excellent but overall more than a decent keeper. Captaincy I don't rate him highly.

[Gunner_Mania]

Captaincy I don't rate him highly.

That is because you are a mere mortal. You need to spend more time with :canabis: to understand Dhoni's captaincy. :P

His decisions are indeed baffling most of the times for mortals like me and it will stay that way too :--D

[Andy]

Since he took over as captain has been the most Consistent ODI batter for us, taking us through the critical Chases home and away. Have done very well in tests making decent contributions when the team was in trouble. But all his batting contribution came to an abrupt halt after his marriage. Decent Keeper, though not among the class of Keepers we had in the 90's. Captaincy was very good in the first 1 year. Since then he has gone down compared to his own standard he had set previously.

[Ram]

Its incredible how people forget how things were only a few years ago. Back then, we could barely win a book-cricket match outside India. Then, Ganguly’s captaincy happened, then Virender Sehwag happened, Zak re-emerged and Sachin started playing like err..Sachin. But MS has been the bond that has held together these individual pieces. His importance in the Indian team couldn’t be under-stated. I mean, what more can this guy do? He makes his debut around 2006 and his handed the captaincy just 30 months from his debut and takes to the job like ducks take to water. While other international captains are busy exchanging blazers stuffed with spot-fixing money, he goes out there and leads his team with calm, composure and dignity, even though he has no known previous experience at the job. Can anyone forget how he asked Piyush Chawla to take the winning cup after the CB series win? Or how he fittingly asked Ganguly to take over the captaincy in the dying moments of the 4th test against Australia? That is poise, grace and dignity. If that aint enough, he averages 50 with the bat in ODIs and 40 in the tests, is one of the most under-rated keepers going around and beyond all that, one of the most adept guys at handling at the media (apart from that rather bizarre India team gathering at a press conference when every single member of the Indian team were gathered at the podium after there were rumors of infighting within the team, he hasn’t put the foot wrong). Under him, we have gone from a reasonably good team to the team to beat in the international cricket and here we have, people questioning his contribution. Unless of course these doubters just want to stir the pot for stirring’s sake, are they really seeing the same matches that the rest of us see on Tv? Coz if they did and provided they were not high on crack then, they wouldn’t be asking these stupid questions.

[ZodiaC]

Was all going good until I read this:

Under him, we have gone from a reasonably good team to the team to beat in the international cricket and here we have, people questioning his contribution. .

Ok now please explain this? We were not a team to beat before he took over captaincy or wot? :hmmm:

[Sid]

Its incredible how people forget how things were only a few years ago. Back then, we could barely win a book-cricket match outside India. Then, Ganguly’s captaincy happened, then Virender Sehwag happened, Zak re-emerged and Sachin started playing like err..Sachin. But MS has been the bond that has held together these individual pieces. His importance in the Indian team couldn’t be under-stated. I mean, what more can this guy do? He makes his debut around 2006 and his handed the captaincy just 30 months from his debut and takes to the job like ducks take to water. While other international captains are busy exchanging blazers stuffed with spot-fixing money, he goes out there and leads his team with calm, composure and dignity, even though he has no known previous experience at the job. Can anyone forget how he asked Piyush Chawla to take the winning cup after the CB series win? Or how he fittingly asked Ganguly to take over the captaincy in the dying moments of the 4th test against Australia? That is poise, grace and dignity. If that aint enough, he averages 50 with the bat in ODIs and 40 in the tests, is one of the most under-rated keepers going around and beyond all that, one of the most adept guys at handling at the media (apart from that rather bizarre India team gathering at a press conference when every single member of the Indian team were gathered at the podium after there were rumors of infighting within the team, he hasn’t put the foot wrong). Under him, we have gone from a reasonably good team to the team to beat in the international cricket and here we have, people questioning his contribution. Unless of course these doubters just want to stir the pot for stirring’s sake, are they really seeing the same matches that the rest of us see on Tv? Coz if they did and provided they were not high on crack then, they wouldn’t be asking these stupid questions.

Great post:two_thumbs_up:,explains exactly what MSD has been for Indian Cricket

[Malik_Bhai]

his captaincy may be good, but as a batsman he has cleary underperformed in the last 2-3 years. it so frustrating, because he used to be ferocious like sehwag. which made him rich due to advertisement.

[ZodiaC]

his captaincy may be good, but as a batsman he has cleary underperformed in the last 2-3 years. it so frustrating, because he used to be ferocious like sehwag. which made him rich due to advertisement.

:giggle: He averages 43.97 in tests and almost 60 in ODIs in last 3 years :hmmm:

[Ram]

Was all going good until I read this: Ok now please explain this? We were not a team to beat before he took over captaincy or wot? :hmmm:

No we quite literally weren’t and I am talking purely test cricket here. Our ODI and t20 fortunes have ebbed under flowed under Dhoni, but in test cricket, we gone from an already good team to a dominant team that has lost only one of previous 10 test series under MS.

[ZodiaC]

No we quite literally weren’t and I am talking purely test cricket here. Our ODI and t20 fortunes have ebbed under flowed under Dhoni' date=' but in test cricket, we gone from an already good team to a dominant team that has lost only one of previous 10 test series under MS.[/quote'] More than half of which were played at home. He is yet to captain against a strong team overseas except NZ & Lankans. And not to forget that most of the strong teams are not what they used to be - like Aus, NZ, SL, etc are a lot weaker team now. So how can you conclude that merely looking at the stats that we have gone from a good team to champions overnight under his captaincy?

[Tendulkar_Bhai]

Dhoni binds the team together - a bridge between the seniors and the youngsters. That is his biggest contribution. He can easily bat purely as a batsman in the shorter versions of the game and can move himself up the order. In the longer version of the game, the wicketkeeper needs to be fully fit and needs full concentration and I think Dhoni's workload both physically and mentally is quite immense. Next time, try mimicking his movements as a keeper for one session and you'll see what I'm talking about. Plus, he's had back injuries and finger injuries on top of this as well. Batting at #7 is also difficult, and he has done a reasonable job. He could do better and I think he does have the potential. As for his tactical display as a captain, that is debatable.

This is true, he is great at utilising the better players in the team and while some of his selections have been questionable e.g. jadega, his place in the team is cemented especially when u consider the alternative being Kathik! His game is obviously more suited to odi's but he is has a good test average. Dont rate him as captain compared to Ganguly, but he is the best we have and after overseeing the australia series we can hardly take any drastic action! Think also he doesnt let any jealously or ego issues take over his senses, as he is naturally in the shadow of Dravid, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Laxman but still has respect for these guys concentrates on his strengths.,

[urbestfriend]

this thread will be bumped and will explode like a supernova after the new zealand ceries. just watch as it turns more and more believers into non believers.

:hysterical::hysterical: What a troll :--D

[Andy]

We were a Very Good Test team before MSD took over. But very por ODI side. His contribution has been immensely in ODI team, He did OKish for the Test team as we already had a great team. The team we had before MSD had won Test series in England, in 2004 we drew series in Aus which was the No-1 team then.(We were much more dominant than the result suggests). His contribution to test team as a captain will get praises only when we tour England and take the series again, and Tour the 2nd best team in the World that is SA and do what we did in 2004 in AUS.

[ZodiaC]

We were a Very Good Test team before MSD took over. But very por ODI side. His contribution has been immensely in ODI team' date=' He did OKish for the Test team as we already had a great team. The team we had before MSD had won Test series in England, in 2004 we drew series in Aus which was the No-1 team then.(We were much more dominant than the result suggests). His contribution to test team as a captain will get praises only when we tour England and take the series again, and Tour the 2nd best team in the World that is SA and do what we did in 2004 in AUS.[/quote'] The Aus series was epic - we went in with Sir Aggy :giggle: Irfan Pathan (debut), etc. and beat the arguably one of the strongest Aus sides ever. I agree with the ODI part, but we were not 'poor' though. We did decent enough and reached the world cup finals :--D

[Andy]

The Aus series was epic - we went in with Sir Aggy :giggle: Irfan Pathan (debut), etc. and beat the arguably one of the strongest Aus sides ever. I agree with the ODI part, but we were not 'poor' though. We did decent enough and reached the world cup finals :--D

Lets talk about the Period from 2004-2007. More Importantly after Rahul took over as Captaan.

[Shane]

Yea Dravid and Ganguly were good, but Dhoni looks to have taken things one notch higher in both forms of the game.

[Andy]

Kumble Doesnt get the credit he deserves. He couldnt manage the results, But i always believed he was Very Good. Personaly Rate him higher than Dravid.

[Shane]

Kumble Doesnt get the credit he deserves. He couldnt manage the results' date=' But i always believed he was Very Good. Personaly Rate him higher than Dravid.[/quote'] Same with MSD, doesnt get the credit he deserves, personally rate him above them all.

[Andy]

Kumble had the Toughest of Tours in his Tenure SL , Aus away and SA at home. Started with Pak at Home.