Monday, 25 August 2014
Maxwell, Marsh crush Zimbabwe
TRI-SERIES, 1ST ODI—Win by 198 runs for Australia.
By Firdose Moonda | ESPNcricinfo – Mon 25 Aug, 2014 5:30 AM IST
Australia 350 for 6 (Maxwell 93, Marsh 89) beat Zimbabwe 152 (Masakadza 70, Smith 3-16) by 198 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
A blistering 109-run stand in nine overs between Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell saw Australia rack up the highest ODI total at the Harare Sports Club and leave Zimbabwe in the dust in the tri-series opener. Both Marsh, promoted to No.3 in Michael Clarke's injury-enforced absence, and Maxwell recorded their highest scores in the format as Australia stacked on 147 runs in their last ten overs. Zimbabwe's best batsman, Hamilton Masakadza, managed less than half of that.
Maxwell came out in the 37th over and finished with 93 off 46.On a late winter surface, neither team's bowlers were able to extract much from the pitch but Zimbabwe's attack was rendered particularly toothless in the face of Australia's aggression. The usually miserly Tinashe Panyangara and Tendai Chatara were torn apart while John Nyumbu was swept and sliced all over the ground. In contrast Australia's frontline seamers were disciplined and their premier spinner, Nathan Lyon, found turn against a much meeker line-up that never looked likely to chase at seven runs to the over.
Australia's innings had a solid start and a flourishing finish as they first assessed the conditions and the opposition and then showed how they would react given the lack of any real threats. Aaron Finch and Brad Haddin, who was given the opening berth ahead of Phil Hughes, were circumspect upfront but found the boundary often in the first 15 overs with Zimbabwe's bowlers offering a mix of deliveries that spanned the spectrum of too short, too wide, too full and too far down the leg-side.
When Elton Chigumbura introduced himself in the 15th over, it seemed groundhog day was looming for the hosts. Fortune intervened to give them a breakthrough when Haddin went down the pitch to defend against Chigumbura but the ball dropped on the pitch, bounced behind him and removed the leg bail.
That was Zimbabwe's cue to enforce a squeeze, engineered by Prosper Utseya. Tight lines against a watchful Marsh resulted in just 23 runs coming from the next seven-and-a-half overs, during which Finch reached his half-century. In a bid to get a move on, Australia took the Powerplay at the start of the 29th over but found themselves similarly stuck. Zimbabwe gave away just 25 runs in the five-over period, got rid of Finch, and tightened their grip afterwards when Utseya held on to a catch at short third man to dismiss George Bailey.
Little did they know what lay on the other side of that wicket.
Maxwell allowed himself an 12-ball sighter before charging Utseya for the first of his three sixes. Australia's score peeped over 200 as the last 10 overs began and exploded to 281 by the time the last five overs had arrived.
Marsh and Maxwell put to use the six-hitting practice Australia had done the day before the match and tucked into Williams, Nyumbu and Panyangara, sometimes finding the boundary, other times going over it. Twenty runs came off a Nyumbu over, and 19 and 15 off two from Panyangara. Marsh went from 50 to 88 in 32 balls; Maxwell from 20 to 64 in 18 balls and both seemed destined for three figures.
But as Marsh was about to enter the nineties, he failed to clear long-on and was caught off a Chatara slower ball. Maxwell marched to 93 but then misjudged one and gave Chatara a second consolation wicket. But the damage had already been done and Zimbabwe could only hope for a respectable response.
For that, they needed a strong opening stand but their third combination in the last four matches could not deliver. Tino Mawoyo, who was brought into the XI, was trapped lbw by a Mitchell Starcdelivery that caught him in his crease as it angled in.
Sikandar Raza and Hamilton Masakadza showed fight with the highest stand of the Zimbabwe innings, 63 runs, with Masakadza the mainstay. Raza refused to take a run off Mitchell Johnson, playing out two successive maidens from him, but eased the pressure when Kane Richardson was brought on and he could hit with confidence through the off side. He once again threw away a start when he hit Lyon straight to backward square leg.
Masakadza held the innings together as Taylor, fresh from being dropped, pushed lazily at a Johnson delivery with a hint of extra bounce to be caught at slip, Chigumbura top-edged a short ball after being hit by Johnson and Sean Williams gifted a catch to cover. At 88 for 5 in the 23rd over, Zimbabwe were out of the contest, and besides Masakadza's 24th ODI fifty there were few positives for them.
Soft dismissals were the primary method of departure for Zimbabwe's batsman with partnerships lean and bowlers given a free pass to collect wickets. Chigumbura used one word to sum up Zimbabwe's performance. "Outplayed." It was actually much more than that because they undid themselves as much as they were undone by an Australian side that did not look like they had been without game time since January.
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Sunday, 24 August 2014
India hope format change revives fortunes
PREVIEW, 1ST ODI AT BRISTOL: Momentum with England as Shastri era begins.
By Abhishek Purohit | ESPNcricinfo – 14 hours ago
Match facts
August 25, 2014
Start time 1030 local (0930 GMT)
Dhoni: back to his favourite format.
Big Picture
A relentless examination that lasted five Tests and ended with three successive defeats is over, but some humiliating stats still follow India to the shorter format. They go into the ODI series against England having failed to win their last seven matches outside Asia.
The bowling not firing in those games was not a huge concern; that is the norm for India. The batting getting blown away in South Africa and failing to close out games in New Zealand was. India's batsmen regularly make up for the bowlers' shortcomings in home conditions. Unfortunately for them, the 2015 World Cup won't be played at home.
Starting from Bristol, India will want their batsmen to win a few games for them because after this series, it will be only a month to the World Cup by the time they play their next one outside Asia. Barring a couple of names in the top order, the core of the batting remains unchanged from the Tests. Which means personnel low on runs and down on confidence. The fresh arrivals - Suresh Raina andAmbati Rayudu - do not inspire much confidence as well.
The pair of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja has been a constant for India for a while now, whether at home or away. MS Dhoni's lack of faith in his fast bowlers and over-rate concerns have contributed to that, but how often can the duo win you games in these conditions? That is another question for India to answer in the couple of series available to work out their World Cup combinations.
England's recent one-day form hasn't been exciting either. They went down to Australia both home and away, the latter a 1-4 rout. They did beat West Indies in Antigua but slipped against Sri Lanka at home. They fought in that series alright, coming back from 99 all out at Chester-le-Street to demolishing the visitors for 67, but their batsmen made few big scores, and will want to show greater urgency against India.
Like India, several members of England's Test squad feature in the one-day side, and unlike India, they will bring with themselves baggage of the right kind.
Form guide
England: LLWLW
India: WWWLL
Players to watch
Alex Hales has three centuries in his last three appearances for Nottinghamshire, to go with a century for England Lions against Sri Lanka A earlier this month. He has played 32 T20 internationals and is the only Englishman to make a hundred in the shortest format, but his rich domestic form could finally hand him that ODI debut.
Ajinkya Rahane has earned his place in the Test side with solid contributions in South Africa, New Zealand and England. ODIs have been a different story so far. He had one double-digit score in six innings in South Africa and New Zealand, although he made runs in Bangladesh after that. Runs in England could seal for him that middle-order spot at the World Cup.
Team news
Hales is expected to make his one-day debut as Alastair Cook's opening partner. Ian Bell is likely to drop down to No. 3 ahead of Gary Ballance for his one-day experience, while an allrounder will be required further down the order to make up for Ravi Bopara's bowling. Moeen Ali could also fill that role but, with the World Cup in mind, England may want to focus on their pace options to begin with which means Chris Woakes is likely. They will also look at how fit the players coming from the T20 finals are, and then decide the final XI.
England (probable) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6Chris Woakes/Ben Stokes, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Chris Jordan, 9 James Tredwell, 10 James Anderson, 11 Harry Gurney
Suresh Raina was out of the ODI squad for a while, but returned as captain for the short tour to Bangladesh. He will likely slot in at No. 5. India do not have Varun Aaron's pace for the ODIs, butUmesh Yadav is a capable replacement on that front.
India (probable) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Umesh Yadav
Pitch and conditions
Bristol's first ODI in more than four years may not happen at all, with 100% chances of rain - 50-75mm - throughout Monday, according to weather.com. There are no floodlights at the ground so light is likely to be an issue too. There is some green on the pitch but not much.
Stats and trivia
Quotes
"We've got to remember they're world champions at 50 overs, so they obviously know what they're doing and will probably go into this as favourites. But if we play well, we're hard to beat in our conditions."
Alastair Cook is not taking India lightly despite thrashing them in the Test series.
"I think it has been relatively easy. The reason being newer generation of cricketers of course feel hurt and disappointed when they don't do well, but at the same time they realise the importance of leaving a tough series behind them and taking the learnings from it. That's what makes them positive. That's what helps them improve."
MS Dhoni throws light on the short transition between formats.
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ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Friday, 22 August 2014
Kohli, Rayudu star in Indian win
The duo hit fifties before the bowlers routed Middlesex in a practice one-day game.
By Sidharth Monga | ESPNcricinfo – 12 hours ago
India 230 (Rayudu 72, Kohli 71, Rayner 4-32) beat Middlesex 135 (Karn 3-14) by 95 runs
Scorecard
Nearly two months into the tour, two ducks and four other single-figures scores later, Virat Kohli registered his first fifty, leading the Indians to a win in their only warm-up one-day match before the ODI series starts on Monday. This won't even count as an official fifty or a List A win because India persisted with their policy of letting the whole squad play. The win, at any rate, came against the lowly ranked Middlesex, who have won only three of their eight domestic one-day matches this year. And after they batted with reduced intensity to be bowled out for 230. Middlesex did have Steve Finn and Eoin Morgan playing, but a few of them were not first-choice Middlesex players.
Half-centuries in difficult conditions. (File picture/ Getty Images)Ravi Shastri, the new team director, was seen in the dressing room, wearing a suit. He spent a lot of time talking to Duncan Fletcher, but he also seemed to be having discussions with other players. MS Dhoni gave the game a miss, but he came out to field in the afternoon after having spent an hour and a half in the gym.
Apart from Kohli, Ambati Rayudu scored 72 before voluntarily ending his innings. The Indians were 211 for 5 at the end of 40 overs when Rayudu went off the field. The next four wickets fell for 19 runs in 26 deliveries. The lower order had been a bit like India's top order, playing too many shots. Shikhar Dhawan found mid-off after he danced down the wicket to the left-arm pace of Gurjit Sandhu. Rohit Sharmamanaged to get caught at third man on the shorter side of the ground: the match was played at the edge of a square, which meant the boundary on one side was barely 45 yards. Ajinkya Rahane tried to force a short-of-a-length delivery on the up, and found mid-on. At 52 for 3 after 13.3 overs, Kohli and Rayudu came together.
Kohli did seem to have the same problem as in the Tests when he faced Finn, following shortish balls with a vertical bat not intent on hitting them hard. After he survived that spell without edging, Kohli played freely. He hit quicks over extra cover, drove down the ground, and also gave the spinners the charge. Against Ravi Patel's left-arm spin, Kohli hit a six over extra cover, chipped over that man for three, nearly got stumped, but followed up next ball with a straight loft for four. Patel finally got him caught at the wicket, though.
Rayudu's innings set off with a couple of fours to the short boundary - wide mid-on in his case - but he hardly got to face Finn. He did bat ahead of Suresh Raina, who was sent out only as an afterthought when nine wickets had fallen with plenty of overs to spare. Raina proceeded to walk past an offbreak from Ollie Rayner, who had earlier taken two good return catches.
Middlesex were hapless with the bat, which will make judging the bowling a little difficult. Their batsmen didn't possess a range of shots. Two of the first three wickets fell to strangles down the leg side, and Dawid Malan was bowled, beaten for pace by Mohammed Shami. Once Eoin Morgan fell for 16, trying to give Mohit Sharma the charge and edging through a shortish delivery, the game was all but over. India tried eight bowlers, giving everyone but the part-timers a go. Except for Ravindra Jadeja, everyone got a wicket. Karn Sharma got three.
Scorecard
Nearly two months into the tour, two ducks and four other single-figures scores later, Virat Kohli registered his first fifty, leading the Indians to a win in their only warm-up one-day match before the ODI series starts on Monday. This won't even count as an official fifty or a List A win because India persisted with their policy of letting the whole squad play. The win, at any rate, came against the lowly ranked Middlesex, who have won only three of their eight domestic one-day matches this year. And after they batted with reduced intensity to be bowled out for 230. Middlesex did have Steve Finn and Eoin Morgan playing, but a few of them were not first-choice Middlesex players.
Half-centuries in difficult conditions. (File picture/ Getty Images)Ravi Shastri, the new team director, was seen in the dressing room, wearing a suit. He spent a lot of time talking to Duncan Fletcher, but he also seemed to be having discussions with other players. MS Dhoni gave the game a miss, but he came out to field in the afternoon after having spent an hour and a half in the gym.Apart from Kohli, Ambati Rayudu scored 72 before voluntarily ending his innings. The Indians were 211 for 5 at the end of 40 overs when Rayudu went off the field. The next four wickets fell for 19 runs in 26 deliveries. The lower order had been a bit like India's top order, playing too many shots. Shikhar Dhawan found mid-off after he danced down the wicket to the left-arm pace of Gurjit Sandhu. Rohit Sharmamanaged to get caught at third man on the shorter side of the ground: the match was played at the edge of a square, which meant the boundary on one side was barely 45 yards. Ajinkya Rahane tried to force a short-of-a-length delivery on the up, and found mid-on. At 52 for 3 after 13.3 overs, Kohli and Rayudu came together.
Kohli did seem to have the same problem as in the Tests when he faced Finn, following shortish balls with a vertical bat not intent on hitting them hard. After he survived that spell without edging, Kohli played freely. He hit quicks over extra cover, drove down the ground, and also gave the spinners the charge. Against Ravi Patel's left-arm spin, Kohli hit a six over extra cover, chipped over that man for three, nearly got stumped, but followed up next ball with a straight loft for four. Patel finally got him caught at the wicket, though.
Rayudu's innings set off with a couple of fours to the short boundary - wide mid-on in his case - but he hardly got to face Finn. He did bat ahead of Suresh Raina, who was sent out only as an afterthought when nine wickets had fallen with plenty of overs to spare. Raina proceeded to walk past an offbreak from Ollie Rayner, who had earlier taken two good return catches.
Middlesex were hapless with the bat, which will make judging the bowling a little difficult. Their batsmen didn't possess a range of shots. Two of the first three wickets fell to strangles down the leg side, and Dawid Malan was bowled, beaten for pace by Mohammed Shami. Once Eoin Morgan fell for 16, trying to give Mohit Sharma the charge and edging through a shortish delivery, the game was all but over. India tried eight bowlers, giving everyone but the part-timers a go. Except for Ravindra Jadeja, everyone got a wicket. Karn Sharma got three.
The ECB's blueprint for success for India
[SATIRE] If they want to win like England, they need to muck about with their captain, coach and best player.
By James Marsh | ESPNcricinfo – 5 hours ago
Dhoni - under pressureIndia capitulated to England. Well, to say capitulated doesn't really do it justice. They repeatedly collapsed like a row of deckchairs built from dominoes a herd of buffalo had just decided to have a little sit-down in. From the galactic highs of Lord's, in Southampton, Manchester and at The Oval they plummeted back to Earth faster than a meteorite with vertigo. Did they get too distracted by Pushgate? Has the IPL destroyed their Test techniques? Did the entire squad have a mass portentous vision of Ian Botham's future Twitter feed, rendering the eye part of their hand-eye coordination irreparably damaged when batting?
There are no easy answers to this malaise, but if India want some inspiration for how to bounce back from an away shellacking, they need look no further than their rampaging hosts. Some may suggest England's post-Ashes New Era eventual success has come about as much by luck as judgement, but if the BCCI adheres to the following blueprint (as devised by the ECB), their team too will be back winning matches in no time. Well, certainly within a year or so.
Appoint the right sort of captain
When Giles Clarke noted that Alastair Cook's family were "very much the sort of people" the relatives of the England cricket captain should be, many observers scoffed. They were quite wrong to do so. No one is casting aspersions on MS Dhoni's kin, but India must take heed from England's elitist selection policy and find a leader who was born with not so much a silver spoon in his mouth as an entire cutlery set carved out of diamonds. There's just one man who fits the bill. Although his being long retired may be something of a sticking point, only Sourav Ganguly has the blood blue enough to lead India out of the darkness.
Sack your best player
After an initial wobble in results lasting a mere six months, the ditching of Kevin Pietersen by England has proved a master stroke. Granted, his supporters outside cricket claim his absence had nothing to do with India's batsmen swatting manically at the ball like it was a wasp at a picnic. Sure, they further hint that Pietersen himself may well have been able to make a vat of runs in this series, even against the ferocious inswinging exocets of Stuart Binny. Alas, these are mere pinpricks on the hide of the overall success of the ECB's revitalisation strategy. Sorry, Bhuvi. You may well have been India's Man of the Series, but you've got to go.
Muck your openers about
India already have potential in this area with the recall of Gautam Gambhir to figure on a spicy Old Trafford wicket after playing less cricket than the average rhinoceros in the month previous. They have still a lot to learn from the English hierarchy, however. Nick Compton was harshly dropped, presumably not because he was from the wrong sort of family. Michael Carberry was harshly dropped, presumably because having handled Mitchell Johnson quite competently it was felt he'd be toast against Sri Lanka's new-ball attack. Both had reason to feel a little bit aggrieved at being replaced by Sam Robson, who at times has batted so rigidly it seemed as if he were trying to convey the concept of C-3PO in a game of charades. With these selections in mind, India's only opener who showed any steel, M Vijay, needs to be dropped and replaced by, well, for example, Binny.
Reappoint your old coach
England's recipe for success has been to reheat Peter Moores, and the BCCI again has shown signs of copying this canny plot by appointing Ravi Shastri, briefly in charge for the 2007 tour of Bangladesh, to be "Director of Cricket" for the aforementioned ODI series. Although Shastri will undoubtedly throw the kitchen sink at the role, India really need someone who, like Moores in his first stint, oversaw mediocre results and had a huge bust-up with the team captain. Pity whoever it is who has to tell the newly restored Dada, but on this basis the permanent replacement for Duncan Fletcher has got to be Greg Chappell.
Organise a home series against India
Admittedly this presents a number of logistical and existential problems, but if India can't play against themselves, then they at least need to follow the ECB's post-away tour debacle policy of hosting a side that's quite likely to pose the same level of threat as a puppy on Ritalin. On this front, the BCCI has already actually surpassed itself: West Indies arrive on Indian shores in October.
So that's all India have to do to restore themselves to greatness. If it all goes wrong, blame Paul Downton.
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Wednesday, 20 August 2014
India could be whitewashed in Australia - McGrath
Glenn McGrath has suggested that India are likely to cop another 4-0 Test series loss in Australia unless they improve on all aspects of their cricket.
By ESPNcricinfo staff | ESPNcricinfo – Wed 20 Aug, 2014 5:30 AM IST
Former Australia fast bowler Glenn McGrath has suggested that India are likely to cop another 4-0 Test series loss in Australia unless they improve on all aspects of their cricket. India play four Tests against the hosts from December 2014 to January 2015, followed by an ODI tri-series that also features England.
Glenn McGrath: Sounding a warning noteMcGrath told ESPNcricinfo that India would be under severe pressure if Australia play with the same intensity as their 5-0 thrashing of England during the Ashes at home last year.
"For India to be competitive in the upcoming Australia series, a lot of things have to change. We saw, as you mentioned, England when they toured Australia last year, they were well and truly beaten 5-0. Now they have well and truly beaten India 3-1. It's going to be a tough series for India in Australia," McGrath said.
"If Australia play anywhere near as they have been, then they are going to be really tough to beat. To be honest, I can't see India winning a Test match, so my prediction is as it usually is - I predict Australia to win and win 4-0. It's up to the Indian team to prove me wrong and to somehow find some way to turn around their form. Their fielding, their batting, their bowling [to a degree], they've got a lot of work to do in the next few months."
McGrath termed India's performance in the Tests against England as "ordinary" and said the losses could be put down to a matter of getting the basics right, like converting the opportunities that the bowlers create.
"It could have been better, no doubt about that. I have enjoyed Varun Aaron coming in, bowling with a bit more pace. Ishant Sharma has always promised a lot, he's still taking wickets, but unfortunately, he's had a few injury worries, his pace has dropped down. Pankaj Singh looks raw but has a lot of potential. As a unit they could have bowled better but they did create quite a few chances. That's what you have to do at that level. But you can't afford to drop 3-4 catches in every Test match. If you do that, you're not going to win any. Overall, the bowling was 7-7.5 out of 10."
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who finished as the side's leading wicket-taker with 19 dismissals, was one of the stand-out performers for India in the Tests.
"He's done well. [He] bowls pretty good areas, he swings the ball and has got the knack of taking wickets, too. So it's all about playing at this level, being successful, believing in yourself and then being able to improve and learn from every game you play."
McGrath pointed out that one of the main issues India face on overseas tours is the lack of a quality fast bowler. He said that Varun Aaron had shown the potential to fill that void but urged him not to trade his pace for something else. Aaron's intensity was impressive in the two Tests that he played in England, taking five wickets.
"I think India's biggest problem has always been that they haven't got an express, out-and-out fast bowler," McGrath said. "I mentioned Varun Aaron, who bowls good pace, but the rest, you can say, are probably medium-pacers, so then you've got to be able to swing the ball, you've got to be able to build pressure.
"I've done a bit of work with Varun at the MRF pace foundation. I've been impressed with his attitude and the way he goes about things. The thing that is special about him is that pace. He has to bowl 145-plus, up around that 150 km mark. He can't afford to lose that, so the one thing he doesn't want to do, and what most bowlers really shouldn't be doing, is trading pace for something else. You need that control, no doubt about that, but you need to keep what makes you so special. So for someone like Varun Aaron, he needs to be bowling 145-150 kph for him to be in the Indian team."
Glenn McGrath was in India on behalf of Tourism Australia to invite Indians to visit and experience Australia during next year's World Cup
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Time to liberate MS Dhoni
Free him from the Test captaincy and he could yet give back in other ways
By Gaurav Kalra | ESPNcricinfo – 20 hours ago
MS Dhoni has a phlegmatic, unruffled air about him. That he is rarely given to another disposition suggests it is how the man is constructed. There is no mask, no pretense at being "cool". In the delirium that followed India's World Cup victory in 2011, he said it was "good to win". No grandiose romanticism about how a boy from Ranchi could never have imagined holding up cricket's most treasured prize, no claims of this being a "gift to the nation".
So, in defeat too, Dhoni doesn't do manufactured gloom. "Will you resign as Test captain now?" he was asked after India plummeted to their fifth-straight overseas-series defeat. "Didn't you ask me the same question in 2011?" he retorted with a smile.
Leading cricket teams wears the best of them down. Graeme Smith recently walked away from the game, knowing well that at 33 he was possibly forsaking a few years of heavy run scoring. In 2007 Rahul Dravid led India to a first series win in England in 21 years and called time on his captaincy, saying he simply had stopped "enjoying" the task. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara grew weary of the politics of their board and so chose to hand hold a younger man rather than continue in the job themselves.
When India suffered embarrassing whitewashes in 2011 in England and then Australia, Dhoni had faced calls for his head. He dug his heels in at the time, and perhaps rightly so. At 30, Dhoni was aware that once India's aging batting giants made way, he would be allowed to put together a team of his choice. As India began a sequence of three series on the road earlier this season, the signs were positive. In South Africa and New Zealand, they were beaten but not disgraced. The formula Dhoni invested in was reaping reward and on an incredible afternoon at Lord's, it delivered a magic moment.
The three staggering defeats that have followed have not just punctured the afterglow of that success but give Dhoni little reason to stay invested in the job. The young batsmen he hoped would form the engine room of a brave new outfit have floundered and offered clues to future foes on how to neutralise them. Returning to solid performers from the past has ended in spectacular failure.
Worse still, there isn't a stream of young batsmen in the country demanding to be promoted to national duty. What does Dhoni attempt to rebuild now? Who does he build with?
The consistently comical slip catching and large tracts of impotent bowling mean India have inadequate tools to mount a credible challenge on tours.
Dhoni avoids hyperbole, terming overseas success "important", and isn't given to concerns about legacy, but surely the will to soldier on is dwindling? Yes, he could add to his impressive captaincy record by beating West Indies at home later in the year, but it would be little more than a statistical milestone.
In the brutal treadmill that is the modern game, it is a minor miracle that Dhoni's reign has lasted this long. But being captain first and all else later has impeded his progress as a Test cricketer.
An old cliché suggests cricket teams must be made up of the best playing eleven possible and the captain must be found from within that group. However, no wicketkeeper in the country, no matter how assured his glove-work or how sound his batting, has even an outside chance of challenging for Dhoni's spot.
In the absence of the competition from rivals that often forces sportsmen to strive to improve, Dhoni's wicketkeeping has visibly declined. He displayed remarkable gumption with the bat in making four half-centuries in the England series but his overall record outside the subcontinent remains pedestrian. He is perhaps still India's No. 1 wicketkeeper batsman in Test cricket, but worthy young men such as Wriddhiman Saha and Naman Ojha are emerging as strong challengers.
At 33, there can yet be a memorable home stretch to this outstanding international career. What he needs, in Test cricket, is to be liberated. From tosses and press conferences, from team building and man-management. He has his beloved one-day team to lead into a World Cup defense in less than a year but his time is up as Test captain. There is nothing left to accomplish, nothing left to contribute. Free him so he can focus on his battles as a player, free him so his wisdom is available to a successor. Then, it could yet be a happy ending for Dhoni.
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India's Fifteen for 2015
(Note: This long-list of cricketers is based on their performance in the 2011 World Cup, and their appearances in the ODI squad since the same event. Some players—Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra—are not on the list since they’ve not been in the squad for long. Other players—like Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh—are unlikely to make the World Cup due to poor form. But we leave their selection in your hands. Also, remember that pitches in Australia and New Zealand support pace and bounce. Remember to pick players who can excel, or have excelled, in those conditions, and also have the temperament to succeed in a high-pressure tournament.)
After this poll runs its course, we will publish which 15 players are the most favoured to make the cut — and why the voters are right or wrong about them.
HERE ARE THE RESULTS SO FAR
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