Time for Indian cricket to look beyond MS Dhoni the Test captain

What India can learn from Sri Lanka

Being a Sri Lankan myself, I can safely say that the Sri Lankan pace attack is nowhere near that of India. Sri Lanka’s fast bowling unit that is currently consisting of Suranga Lakmal, Shaminda Eranga, Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep lacks variety. They are players with similar pace, similar traits and similar mannerisms.

Unlike India, Sri Lanka don’t have a player who can bowl in excess of 140 kmph consistently. They don’t have the luxury of a tall bowler, either. Yet their returns this year have been better than that of India.

Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lankan Test captain, lost a Test match in January this year owing to his defensive captaincy. When the Pakistanis were on a mission to chase down 302 within one and a half sessions, Mathews placed sweepers and boundary raiders as early as the first over; as a result, Pakistan completed a dramatic chase. Unlike Dhoni, Mathews, fortunately, was not immune to changes.

The Sri Lankan captain, soon after the Sharjah Test, realized that the Lankan bowlers lacked the ability to run through a batting line-up; hence, he adopted a conservative approach, which has paid dividends hitherto. Being conservative does not mean being defensive. It is all about bowling tight lines and lengths consistently and persistently over and over again with an attacking field, thereby making scoring runs tough. By drying out runs, pressure is exerted on the batsmen, and they are lured into false strokes. With time, Sri Lanka have identified this as the method that best works for them.

But Dhoni has not adopted a strategy for the Indian bowling attack. His mistakes are now familiar that anyone sitting at home watching the match on TV can easily foretell what Dhoni would do next.

India need to come with their own approach. The short ball tactic worked very well against the English team. But attempting the same ploy against the Australians was an act of foolhardiness. If India deems that their bowlers are capable of taking wickets, then fields must be set for each bowler’s strength. Should the captain consider that the bowlers are too raw to be able to wreck a batting unit, then an attacking field should be set asking the bowlers to bowl to the set field.

Why Kohli is better than Dhoni

My personal conviction is that the Indian pace battery functions well when they are given the license to attack. They fare better bowling their natural line and length than bowling to a set field.

Against Sri Lanka in the recently concluded ODI series, India’s pace bowlers, uncharacteristically, did most of the damages. Umesh Yadav picked up 10 scalps, which was one less than Akshar Patel’s 11.

The reason why the pacemen did well was because Kohli was ruthless in handling the pace attack. Right from the first game, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron bowled quick. They peppered the Lankan lads with short balls, but never really depended only on bouncers to pick up wickets.

Short leg fielder was mobilised by Kohli even during the death, and when a new batsman arrived, slips were employed even during the batting Powerplay. Kohli didn’t even want to give a scintilla of respite for the batting team.

Kohli’s approach of setting the field for good balls, as against Dhoni’s approach of run saving by setting a field for loose balls, helped the Indian bowling attain a facade of menace.

I was, to be honest, impressed by how Kohli got Chandimal out in that series. Chandimal played the last two games of that series, coming back after a lay off. In the fourth match, Kohli persisted with short cover even as Chandimal drove two balls for four. Dhoni, in Kohli’s stead, would have flinched and placed the short cover fielder in a defensive position. But Kohli’s adamance paid off as Chandimal, soon, loosely drove a ball straight into Raina’s hands at short cover.

In the 5th match, Kohli perceived that Chandimal was struggling to get the ball off the square. When the spinners were brought on, the field was set so that Chandimal had to do something out of the blue to get off the strike. The sweepers in the leg side were taken off, and Kohli tried luring Chandimal into a false stroke. The Sri Lankan youngster took the bait, went for a slog sweep and top edged to Rohit Sharma at mid-on.

Kohli is a quick learner and fast paced in rectifying his mistakes. Over the years, he has matured at a rapid pace and his temperament has improved. Yes, like any ordinary human being, he is susceptible to making mistakes; however, unlike Dhoni, he would not repeat the same mistake again and again.

India won the World Cup T20 in 2007. In 2011 they won the 50-over World Cup. Champions Trophy reached their hands in 2013. In 2009, they were the number one Test side. In the last 5 years, India have been the number one ODI outfit in more than one occasion. With the kind of results India produced within a short span, one would expect India to be the invincibles of the modern era. But interposed between these spectacles are slump in form, poor overseas performances and terrible gamesmanship. India never really had the consistency that they should have had.

Currently, India has one of the best batsmen in the world in their lineup. They have the flair at the top and maturity in the middle. Their bowling attack has the ability to be ruthless. But poor man-management has robbed them off the place that they should be finding themselves in now.

Giving excuses and blaming the bowlers will not work anymore. Arjuna Ranatunga, Martin Crowe and Stephen Fleming are all considered great captains because they created a team from scratch. They didn’t simply resort to the play school idea of blaming the lack of resources. Instead, those great leaders have improvised with what was at their disposal. Martin Crowe used Mark Greatbatch to open and Dipak Patel to strangle opening batsmen; he didn’t expect a Wasim Akram or a Curtly Ambrose in his bowling attack. He just utilised the minimal resources that were available to him effectively. As a result, New Zealand topped the tables in the league stages of the 1992 World Cup.

Arjuna Ranatunga found stars in Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana. He was skillful enough to manage what the mediocre bowling line-up offered him. Stephen Fleming, for over a decade, led a star-less New Zealand team diligently. Dhoni has a lot to learn when it comes to exploiting the resources to the fullest.

Alastair Cook’s sacking is a great precedent for India. If the BCCI can make sure that this would be Dhoni’s last Test series as a captain, India can only do better in future Test assignments. His limited overs captaincy has been excellent, and he should be allowed to go ahead with that as long as he wants. But, in Tests, the time is right for Virat Kohli to be at the wheel