Indian ODI Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni left his fans distraught when he relinquished ODI and T20I captaincy on Wednesday, a move experts were predicting and suggesting– but not so soon. People on social media poured tribute for the legendary captain, which is understandable considering his fantabulous record as a captain. However, to say that his stepping down as a captain is a great loss to Indian cricket is just an emotional response–it is far from the reality. Here is why:
# When Dhoni was handed over T20I captaincy, he was 26 years of age and had no experience of captaincy. Virat Kohli is already 28-year-old and has been the Test captain for a couple of years. He has proven himself as an able captain. It was the right time to relinquish captaincy as Kohli would have time to take the Indian cricket forward like Dhoni did in his time.
#Mahendra Singh Dhoni is already 35-year-old and is in the last phase of his illustrious career in which he captained India to two world cup wins. His record as a batsman has also been great as he emerged as a great finisher of the game. He also has a big responsibility of wicket-keeping. Though he is super fit and his reflexes are good as ever. However, to keep all these things going for him at this age, he would have to concentrate more on keeping himself in a sound mental and physical state. Captaining Indian cricket team is no bed of roses. And hence, by giving up the captaincy, he would be able to work on his conditioning freely.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy record
# Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been playing in the middle-order, but that is not his preferred position. Playing at number 3 position, he has hit 2 centuries and 6 half-centuries. His average is 82.75, which is higher than any other position he has batted at. After relinquishing the captaincy, Dhoni can concentrate on his batting and perhaps prove his ability as a top order batsman who can score big centuries when up the order.
#At this moment, there is no alternative of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a player. He is the best wicket-keeper in the world and a handy batsman. When Virat Kohli becomes the ODI captain, he would have a successful captain in the team in MS Dhoni. Dhoni can mentor Kohli as the limited-over captain. His presence will give Kohli the chance to settle-in.
