India Team Discussion

[CerealKiller]

Perfect opportunity for India to drop him for Rishabh Pant.

 

[Saroj padhy]

The funniest part is he stepped down before being sacked..

 

[CerealKiller]

As far as captains go, there were few better than him.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Dhoni why you do this. There is one guy on the forum who'll be very happy for it, any guesses?

He believes he's a public servant on national duty. His attitude is just unimaginably selfless. I think this is the right decision. It also frees him up massively. I think he will once again become the free spirit he once was. Bowlers around the world should be a tad worried. Those calling for his head are unacquainted with cricket as a sport. India BADLY needs him in limited overs. He has a World Cup left in him!

 

[Yash.]

As far as captains go, there were few better than him.

Except Ricky Ponting, Which few?

 

[Targaryen]

Dhoni has stepped down at the right time. Virat is in great touch with the captaincy role and he can bring back that same charisma which India once had in the early days of Dhoni's captaincy. We have the Champions Trophy up next and ODI/T20I series against England as a captain is very essential for Virat as he needs to gain something from Dhoni before the CT.

Dhoni will be dearly missed as a captain but will surely be loved for his batting skills which he would display in the coming days. That makes the end of favoritism (which has reduced in great extent in the past few months). We will get to see new MSD without any pressure of captaincy and responsibility. I'm happy that Virat, under his captaincy, will bring some youngster to play giving a complete opportunity to deserving players.

Thats the end of [HASHTAG]#CaptainCool[/HASHTAG] and a new beginning of [HASHTAG]#KeeperCool[/HASHTAG] with [HASHTAG]#CaptainAggression[/HASHTAG].

 

[zwarrior]

Perfect opportunity for India to drop him for Rishabh Pant.

Whaaaaaat? No. Dhoni still has a lot to offer. He can play till the next WC which will give plenty of time for Pant to play more domestic cricket and improve his skills. He is not ready for the senior team yet. Plus I am pretty sure the old Dhoni will rise. He can play freely and focus only on batting. I am a tad bit worried about Kohli. I know he is up to this challenge but being the best batsmen in the team and captaincy roles in all the formats is a lot of pressure.

 

[asprin]

Perfect opportunity for India to drop him for Rishabh Pant.

Oh god no. He is not ready yet. Also, Dhoni is not done yet as a batsman/keeper. Yes, he has mellowed down but the experience will definitely help.

He can play freely and focus only on batting

I wouldn't expect him to become aggressive again. He might play like how Sachin used to towards the end of his career.

 

[Velocity]

Honestly, Dhoni is the best Indian wicketkeeper today, besides being a batsman. Look at all those marvelous stumpings and run outs. No, he should not be dropped.

 

[ParkedTheBus]

Dhoni is a legendary player who hasn't received the respect that he deserves. For me, he has been the best captain this century, perhaps rivaled only by Graeme Smith. He handled pressure like no one else. Hope he returns to his old, aggressive self in terms of batting now that the burden of captaincy has been removed. A true legend of the game.

 

[Rehan_24]

One of the best captains of world cricket and probably the best captain of indian cricket. Dhoni calls it right for retirement. The new captain needs to learn a lot from him... specially the calmness.

 

[Aalay]

As far as captains go, there were few better than him.

I don't think there were. I feel Ponting had a much better team than Dhoni in limited overs format, Dhoni had to create players. The players that came in under his regime were Jadeja, Ashwin, Rohit, Kohli who are now pillars of India in limited overs cricket. He also brought the belief in them that they can chase any target is given to them and made team India a grea chasing side. I wasn't a big fan of his captaincy in test cricket but I can safely say that in limited overs cricket, he was probably the best I have ever seen. Some of the decisions that he took in crunch moments when everything was on line and against all odds were incredible. For example giving that over to Joginder Sharma in the final of T20 WC 2007 even though he had our most experienced bowler in Harbhajan who still had one over left was amazing. Giving Ishant Sharma another over in the champions trophy final when he was getting smashed and England were in comfortable position to win the game and Ishant bowling game changing spell. That move to promote himself ahead of Yuvraj in 2011 WC final so he can tackle Murli and many more decisions like this. Doing all this while still playing within the spirit of the game.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

I don't think there were. I feel Ponting had a much better team than Dhoni in limited overs format, Dhoni had to create players. The players that came in under his regime were Jadeja, Ashwin, Rohit, Kohli who are now pillars of India in limited overs cricket. He also brought the belief in them that they can chase any target is given to them and made team India a grea chasing side. I wasn't a big fan of his captaincy in test cricket but I can safely say that in limited overs cricket, he was probably the best I have ever seen. Some of the decisions that he took in crunch moments when everything was on line and against all odds were incredible. For example giving that over to Joginder Sharma in the final of T20 WC 2007 even though he had our most experienced bowler in Harbhajan who still had one over left was amazing. Giving Ishant Sharma another over in the champions trophy final when he was getting smashed and England were in comfortable position to win the game and Ishant bowling game changing spell. That move to promote himself ahead of Yuvraj in 2011 WC final so he can tackle Murli and many more decisions like this. Doing all this while still playing within the spirit of the game.

Outstanding post! It's early in 2017 but this is a sure shot candidate for post of the year!

I think Dhoni's biggest contribution in Indian cricket is the fact that he has been that bridge connecting two stations in Indian cricket. One of the old guard and one of the dynamic raw new guard. He has left the team a LOT healthier compared to what he received it. Ganguly is highly and rightfully credited for teaching us how to win, Dhoni in my opinion taught us how to win consistently and from any situation.

He's been India's captain for a decade. It's a tougher job than being prime minister of India. Tells you a lot about the man, specially considering he gave it up!

 

[CerealKiller]

For example giving that over to Joginder Sharma in the final of T20 WC 2007 even though he had our most experienced bowler in Harbhajan who still had one over left was amazing. Giving Ishant Sharma another over in the champions trophy final when he was getting smashed and England were in comfortable position to win the game and Ishant bowling game changing spell.

Unless he could predict what was going to happen, that's called luck, mate.
Agree with you on the rest. But I think Clive Lloyd is the greatest captain of all time.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Unless he could predict what was going to happen, that's called luck, mate.
Agree with you on the rest. But I think Clive Lloyd is the greatest captain of all time.

I think you're younger than me and I'm 30. It's all too well to listen to historians and say 'oh this guy was the greatest..'

I'll give you an example- My father, another die-hard cricket fan has forever told me that Sobers is the greatest all rounder of all time but I think 2010 onwards he started feeling Kallis was better. Personally, comparing generations is impossible. You see the teams the likes of Lloyd and Ponting had? It's hard to lose cricket matches with those sides you know. Can you imagine Shane Warne leading the side Ponting led? I think he was a more convincing character and easily one of the best tactical thinkers I've seen on a field. I saw Imran Khan win the 1992 World Cup and Pakistan went from a laughing stock to world champions! Under Dhoni, India has emerged as a cricketing super power. Under Ganguly, we learnt how to win and realised we need not be bullied by anyone!

Stats aside, I feel Imran Khan and MS Dhoni are the greatest captains to have played the game. People have a habit of undermining MS Dhoni as a test captain, but the likes of Ponting and Lloyd had a battery of fast bowlers. In India, fast bowlers are like the Kohinoor. Captains from SA, AUS, PAK and ENG at times have three world class fast bowlers with talent on the bench. India have had 2 great fast bowlers since we learned what cricket was. To achieve what he did with the resources he had is some feat.