The price of power

Dear MS Dhoni,

You know I like you and have been a huge fan of your captaincy and am thoroughly impressed with your leadership skills and handling of personnel. But that does not mean that I am not perplexed by some of the things that have lately been creeping into your leadership style.



a) The over rate maintained by India when we are bowling is deplorable. It is utterly, utterly sad that you choose to blatantly disregard this basic minimum. The ICC is not helping matters by simply slapping you on the wrist from time to time. If a team cannot be bothered to even try to bowl 15 overs in an hour, I think the way to get the message across is to suspend the captain for a few games. India bowled 23 overs in two hours on the 2nd day of the Hyderabad Test against New Zealand. 23 overs! Of which 10 were bowled by the spinners! Seriously!

b) As soon as a batsman lofts a ball to the fence, a close-in fielder is removed and placed on the boundary right away. Then all the batsman has to do is punch in that area and take a single. Ugh! The Kiwis lacked the patience to milk it in Hyderabad, but I don't see a batting line-up that reads Smith, Amla, Kallis and deVilliers making the same mistake. What happened to the daringly innovative Masada who was always one step ahead of the batting side? You have gone from being very proactive to passively reactive. I expect that from Ponting not from you.

c) As soon as 7 or 8 wickets fall, the Indian team starts to target only #9,10, and jack, giving up singles to the batsman already at the crease in order to attack the tailender. What the heck?!! You were able to prise out 7 of the first 8 batsmen. Why do you all of sudden imagine you cannot take out the incumbent? Ugh! This tactic reached its nadir against Sr Lanka earlier this year. VVS Laxman's 103* made light of the 258 run 4th inning target but it should never have reached that in the first place. At one point, Sri Lanka was 86 for 7 in the second inning (effectively 75 for 7). Samaraweera was batting on 0 (yes, zero) and India did not even try to get him out the rest of the way. Sri Lanka added another 181 runs before we got them all out. Samaraweera made 83. I watched the inning and was so frustrated I was almost wishing India lost the match by a few runs just so that deplorable tactic would get highlighted and the captaincy slammed in the media.

d) After a Test match is won, at the post-game presentation and subsequent interviews, you rarely acknowledge the opposition. It is not a big deal for most people, but for me it is. In this regard I am really impressed by Ponting's post-match interviews. He is generous about giving credit to the opposition for their effort and is civilized about his own team's role in the win.

e) Maybe it is a clause in your contract with the advertisers who pay you boatlaods of money but I don't see you taking a break at all. You play every game and it is increasingly apparent that your fingers are hurting and you could use a break. Tell your agent to insist that you will play only when you are 100% fit. I keep wickets only on the weekends and my fingers hurt for days sometimes when I get hurt collecting wayward deliveries. I cannot imagine how painful it must feel to do it on a daily basis with hurt fingers. I have no evidence to back this, but I feel your hurt fingers are affecting your grip when you bat and it is affecting you there of late, too. Take some time off, leave a few rupees on the table, and get those fingers healthy. Our Test and Word Cup aspirations ride on it.

f) Please abolish the concept of nightwatchmen. It is an anachronism and sets the team back the next day. I will tell you more about it if you want to know why.

g) Tell Harbhajan to watch his dismissal of Jessie Ryder in the current Test match repeatedly, till it enters his brain and does not go away. THAT is how an off-spinner should bowl to a left-hander. Forget the doosra, his pehla is a potent weapon that is woefully underutilized.

That's it for now, Masada. Making you the captain was one of the best things the BCCI ever did. Let your legacy be one that is reminiscent of Brearley and not Gavaskar.

Sincerely
Jaunty Quicksand