Sunday, September 23, 2007
Kangaroo by the tail
The guts to take the expensive Joginder and then Sehwag off the attack, keep the pressure on at the end by giving Bhajji the 18th over (3 runs, 1 wicket), RP Singh the 19th (5 runs) and going back to the medium pace of Joginder for the last over (6 runs, 2 wickets). The calming smile even in the face of the fearsome onslaught by old foes Hayden and Symonds. Not being tempted to put the Aussies in, as Ganguly did in the 2003 World Cup final, although the two games the Aussies had lost to Zimbabawe and Paksitan were while batting first. Sticking to India's strength which has been to bat first and win in this tournament, only losing in the chase against the Kiwis. Dhoni got the kangaroo by the tail and never let go. Has India found its captain, then? Sorry, Yuvraj, I think captain cool is here to stay. Now for the administrators and selectors to support and empower him. Give him the Test captaincy too. Let him have a say in picking his team. How refreshing this youthful, young side looks. It's time for the fab four to take the back seat, and let the Dhoni-Yuvraj combo lead the way.
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7 comments:
Chill man. This is a win in T20 semi final and this is not long hop of the game. Yes its a great feeling to win against Aussies and win in this hard fought way. But to make a mountain of this and ask the great 4 to take backseat is something uncalled for.
And Aussies lost the game not chasing but by defending the total against Pak and Zim.
Dhoni did good to captain the side well, but he is just into his captaincy and a Test match is different test. And Pakistan, Australia Test series is not a child s play. let me be groomed for the job for one yr by some senior and then let him take over.
Dhoni needs to cement his place in the Test side. It is still too early to say that he is our wicketkeeper-batsman for the future. I think someone else needs (I am thinking Kumble/Laxman here) to lead this side till the end of 2008, by which time either Dhoni can cement his spot in the team, or someone like Sehwag can take over.
Sumit, I wouldn't go as far as tests right away, but certainly I too followyour trend of thoughts and impressions about the bloke!
He converted me too gradually ever since he came into the game.
Only your blog traces the evolution of captaincy in the recent past completely (and your conversion too! smile )...I've used the links in an article I put up tracing it in chronological order. It's in the Mumbai Mamba article.
What about today?
Congratulations Sumit and India! A Kangaroo yesterday and Pakistan belled today!
tubbyy, thanks for the correction. yes, i meant batting first, and will change that word. i dread the thought of dhoni being groomed by one of our seniors. he's a natural, he's 26, we should just go with him.
john, i would've agreed with you earlier, but not now after seeing dhoni as captain, which i've discussed in my next post.
soulberry, thanks. ya it's been an interesting look into captaincy, and i've tried to sum it up in my next post.
Seems good captaincy material.
Remains to be seen how long a rope he gets, before politics take over.
ottayan, i guess at some point yuvraj will resent playing second fiddle, as dravid eventually did under ganguly. but right now they seem to be supporting each other. in fact, i think the resistance of the seniors to making way for new talent brings the younger players closer together.
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