Aye, aye, captain

MS Dhoni is still riding high and a true test of character is when things are not going your way, as Ponting is finding out (and failing at miserably). That test of character is yet to come for Dhoni, but when it does I get the sense he will be better at it than most.

For a fellow who never captained at any level after high school, he has many ideas of what needs to be done and the Indian team is buying into his philosophy.

"If you are running from the bowling mark, you need to have the thought that this is the ball you are going to bowl," Dhoni said. "Accordingly you place your fielders. If you are in two minds, you are really confused about what you are doing. If you have just one thought, you can execute it better."
(...)
"If you are bowling a bouncer, you don't need a long on and a long-off," Dhoni said. "If you are bowling a slower one, you don't really need a third man, you can have a deep midwicket. At the same time you can confuse the batsmen also have this field and bowl a yorker. But if the ball is completely different than what the field is, then at times, you have a greater chance to give away a boundary."

It's clarity of thought that Dhoni is seeking from the bowlers. In Dhoni speak, "It's better to have a plan - may be a bad plan - in mind than be confused".

Sriram Veera has some more of the same in his latest article.