We all know the story, we’ve seen it in real and on the big screen and have cheered many times for it. MS Dhoni passing the ball to Joginder Sharma for the final over, the whole of India wondering whether he had lost his mind. Fast forward a few balls later and the Indian team is running around the Wanderers stadium, celebrating the inaugural World T20 victory.
A few years later, India is at a precocious position, having lost VIrat Kohli and still needing more than 170 runs to lift the World Cup on home soil. Everyone is expecting in-form Yuvraj Singh to pop up, but it is the Indian captain, not in the greatest of touch, who comes out of nowhere and plays the innings of his life, to help India lift the World Cup after 28 years.
Destiny’s child:
Dhoni is destiny’s child for sure. He has taken massive risks that have paid off and made him an immortal name in Indian cricket. But what would have happened had the selectors decided to go with, say, Yuvraj Singh or Virender Sehwag as captain back in 2007.
1) First of all, whether we would have made it to the final only would have been a big question mark. For all the contribution that Yuvraj and Sehwag had made to the squad, leadership was not their strongest suit.
2) Sehwag might not have taken a risk of letting Joginder Sharma bowl that final over, and would have probably given the ball to a more experienced bowler. That would have resulted in Misbah hitting the winning runs as he was prepared against all the bowlers who had bowled until then.
3) Yuvi might not have promoted himself up the order in the World Cup Final, and that would have resulted in him losing his wicket and putting the squad under pressure.
4) The amount of trust MS Dhoni showed in Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, is one of the biggest reasons behind their success in international cricket. Had Dhoni not been the captain, these three very talented cricketers might have been sidelined.
5) MS Dhoni has played a big role in improving the fielding standards in India. It was his decision to drop some seniors players to improve fielding. Had Dhoni not been the captain, India’s fielding standards might not have been what they are today. India are, arguably, the best fielding side in the world.
It is hard to say whether the two would have been able to lead the country the way Dhoni did. Dhoni’s temperament and approach is so much more different than Sehwag’s or Yuvraj or even Gambhir. Maybe that is what Indian team needed and that is what we were blessed with.
