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India's ODI captain defends dropping seniors
'It's important to send the message across' - Dhoni
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan and Nagraj Gollapudi
March 19, 2008
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Mahendra Singh Dhoni: "I was pretty clear about the players I wanted in the side"
© Getty Images
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Mahendra Singh Dhoni hopes India's "significant" victory in the CB
Series will silence those who criticised the youth-oriented squad selection for the tournament. Asserting his role in the selection of the young one-day
side - he is India's ODI captain - he said it was "sometimes very important to send the message
across".
"I was pretty clear about the players I wanted in the side," Dhoni
told Cricinfo in a revealing interview where he spoke about the
selection controversy for the first time. "That's what I
said to the selectors as well. You can see the kind of team I got."
The team's selection became controversial after
Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were left out. While some
criticised the decision to drop the seniors, others questioned the
timing of the selection, a day after the historic win in the Perth
Test. The selection also created a few ripples in the dressing room, it was
learnt then.
Dhoni, though, is clear the time had come for a tough decision to be taken and felt
vindicated after the final triumph. "It's very important because the
process and the timing were criticised a lot," he said. "But sometimes it is very important to send the message across, because sometimes people neglect the answer."
He said he pointed out to the ODI team the questions that were being raised about the players and told them to perform.
It's evident that the criticism rankles even after winning the tournament. "What now? Why
are people not asking the same questions now? Because if the result was
not in our favour, what would have happened? Would the people
have been really behind this side or behind individuals?"
A majority of the team had not played in Australia earlier and certain
sections raised questions about their ability to handle demanding
conditions. India's pathetic display in the one-off Twenty20 was seen
as a sign of things to come but Dhoni was happy his side had overcome
the odds.
"You [the critics] questioned this side but now that it's performed you need to back
it," he said of India's first one-day series win in Australia
in 23 years. "We all knew, and you all knew, what would have happened
if this side didn't do well in Australia. Now that it has done well,
why don't you appreciate the performance?
"We had one of the worst flops in Twenty20 and one of the best wins in the
ODI series. Beating Australia is tough. That's why they have the
best-of-three finals. You can have one good day and beat them but
beating them in two consecutive matches is a significant achievement."
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We had set the
standards back in India, when we played [the ODI series] against Australia. We knew
what we really wanted to do on the field. If we were not up to the mark
in Australia, people would have said it was fake aggression, something just for
the public when playing at home |
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Dhoni made it clear that the aggressive tactics against Australia were
premeditated, going so far as to ensure that a few individuals made
life difficult for the opposition. "In the CB Series you hardly saw
any conflict between India and Sri Lanka," he said. "We had set the
standards back in India, when we played [the ODI series] against Australia. We knew
what we really wanted to do on the field. If we were not up to the mark
in Australia, people would have said it was fake aggression, something just for
the public when playing at home. We were with the same set
of standards even when we played against Australia in Australia. It
was not fake aggression, that's how this team can play."
Did he think the best way to beat Australia was by playing their brand
of cricket? "If your playing against an aggressive side, you need to
play an aggressive game," he said. "Especially against Australia, you
can't just look to play and win - it's batting, bowling, fielding,
aggression, everything. Fortunately this side has got a few players
who can speak and do well at the same time and won't get disturbed by it. And there are others who don't speak that much.
"But you need to identify those who can be pepped up and do well while
they're speaking. In a way I'm fortunate to have those players in the
side, rather than ask those who are not comfortable doing it. If you
have a guy who is able to do it and who should do it, I make it a
point that he is doing it. I won't name names but there were
individuals who were saying things, within the boundaries."
Despite all the elation over the win, Dhoni said it was
important not to get carried away with this victory and urged his
players to cultivate the winning habit. "Of course you can't live by
it," he said of the recent win. "You need to perform consistently and
if you're raising the standard you have to stand by it. You have to
keep on doing well."
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan and Nagraj Gollapudi are assistant editors at Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
 Read Comments (175)
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Comments have now been closed for this article
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Whatever Dhoni said is a honest statement and one shold not try reading too much in to it.He may have all the respect for the seniors but may still not want them in the team. He wanted a team which he can control 100% and he was given one. Rest is history. Besides, Dhoni may not be saying whatever he is saying without BCCI's tacit approval.
Posted by Saranadhi on March 22 2008, 09:31 AM GMT
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At this stage, I must congratulate the BCCI for showing rare spine and maturity - rare for them at least - and standing by Dhoni. Sensationalist journalists and ageing cricketing greats cannot be allowed to pull down a winning captain. Dhoni has nothing to 'apologize' for, certainly not a shocking misreading of his statements. It is also surprising that people have the impression India just walked into the finals and against the run of play beat Aus, because it was nothing of the sort. Aus had been beaten in Melbourne, bundled for a low total in Adelaide and had struggled to defend a tall total in Sydney. If this is supposed to be a fluke for the Ganguly-Dravid camp, then why don't you guys build a temple in his name if that might sooth your unduly frayed tempers??
Posted by 66666 on March 22 2008, 03:40 AM GMT
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First of all, Indian players in general need some lessons in PR and it's time the Indian Team has a full time Media Manager as well. And age should never be a criterion for selection........ The best gets to play, thats it! Everyone age some day, it's inevitable.
Secondly, Indian Cricket supporters should learn to be more balanced..... either in victory or defeat they should learn to behave themselves with a little more maturity. But for that to happen, the Cricketers themselves should learn that first. It ain't a bad idea, is it ?
Cheers !!
Posted by Rajesh.NJ on March 21 2008, 12:56 PM GMT
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At this stage, I must congratulate the BCCI for showing rare spine and maturity - rare for them at least - and standing by Dhoni. Sensationalist journalists and ageing cricketing greats cannot be allowed to pull down a winning captain. Dhoni has nothing to 'apologize' for, certainly not a shocking misreading of his statements. It is also surprising that people have the impression India just walked into the finals and against the run of play beat Aus, because it was nothing of the sort. Aus had been beaten in Melbourne, bundled for a low total in Adelaide and had struggled to defend a tall total in Sydney. If this is supposed to be a fluke for the Ganguly-Dravid camp, then why don't you guys build a temple in his name if that might sooth your unduly frayed tempers??
Posted by masterblaster666 on March 21 2008, 11:05 AM GMT
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First I would like to congratulate the Indian team for there magnificent Victory over Aus. We can consider his comments as a Childish one at this moment. But I would like to ask few questions to Dhoni, 1. What's is the Criteria to divide the team members to senior and junior? 2. It is the age or the number of games they played for our country? 3. If it's a matter of age, Is Dhoni ready to withdraw him from the team once he achieved the criteria after some years for the juniors?
Posted by SreekumarKurup on March 21 2008, 09:13 AM GMT
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What Dhoni said exactly is not heard. As many experts said it may have been misinterpreted. But he has been at the center of controversy and criticism by the bulk of Indian supporters, who could not come out of traditional thoughts. Beckham and Rolando were ignored in Real Madrid. There are many such situations where outstanding players do not make. The captain or the manager who has been entrusted to win matches for the club or the country decides because ultimately he will be held responsible. That is the most professional way of handling the players for any match. Dhoni does not deserve repugnance that has been shown to him by Dravid and Saurav lovers. What he did does not mean his disrespect toward those players. It was deliberate misinterpretation to discredit a captain of above 1 billion people. Maybe because he is from a small town and lacks backing from the experts, who hail from more affluent cities. It is pity that his achievements are not counted.
Posted by suhrid on March 21 2008, 08:51 AM GMT
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Dhoni has done good job, but looking at his statements, he is proving some immaturity in speaking. Nowhere it will get proved that match was won by Youngsters only, atleast, Sachin has said so many times with his bat to the board & the critising people, that age does not matter. If Dhoni is trying to make groups of Sr.s by age, then he ias to understand, running between wicket by 18-21 old boy will be faster than 28-30 years old as well. That means, with his own concept, sometime, 30+ age can force himself out of cricket. There is no consistency by any youngster, best example Uttapa & Dhoni's past 2 years showed scoring always. Scoring 40 runs of 20 balls is not useful, instead shoin mechanism to play for 20 overs at good strike rate is essential. Sachin has proved him number 1.
This was just triangular series. Look at Lloyd who won 2 World Cups & 3rd lost in Final. Gavaskar won B&H World cup at the age 36. Dhoni's taking aggressiveness will hurt Indians. Keep Winning !
Posted by ASPCRKT on March 21 2008, 08:24 AM GMT
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I think the comments by Dhoni are premature.Even Greg Chappel produced initial results. But where did he end up? and WE?The main problem of our cricket is the things we get unnoticed;like the chinks in the armour while winning and the plus points while loosing.Here also the victory was mainly due to bowling and not by batting and the so called young briagade.Sachin did it in the final.Where were the others?Bowling has performed more than what we can even dream about. What if the first two matches weren'nt washed out?What if the srilankans played to atleast 70%of their potential? So there are still the ifs and buts.Take care of that.The young batsman are good.But they are nowhere near Ganguly, Laxman or Dravid.They still have to prove.It is said that we dont know what will happen to us tomorow.So while planning for 4 years looks little outrageous.Remember we couldnt do it for 2 yrs and have to go back and start all over again in 2007.Dhoni better be polite and respect the greats
Posted by unnikrishnan on March 21 2008, 08:16 AM GMT
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I believe Dhoni has every right to defend his decision of backing a young team.It should be noted that he has never undermined the contribution of the senior players in the team. But at the same time he wants to build up the team of the future- for the upcoming 2011 World Cup.Dhoni's young brigade was successful in thrashing the world champions in their own backyard- a feat rarely achieved by the visiting teams.India won a ODI series Down Under after a lengthy gap of 23 years.The only experienced campaigner in his team was Sachin the Great- one who is a champion by himself.Dhoni championed because he knew how to bring out the best from a bunch of youngsters who were about to face harsh Indian media, had they failed to deliver. Another reason for Dhoni brigade's success was that they responded to the Aussies in a Aussie way both on and off the field,which left the world champions confused.Could anyone have ever dreamt of such responses from our so called gentle and seasoned senior guys?
Posted by bunny80 on March 21 2008, 08:07 AM GMT
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I'm not sure why there's such a fuss over what he said. He did not say that the seniors were not needed. Time and again he has given Sachin Tendulkar his due when it comes to his contributions to the team. Dhoni is young. He is thinking in terms of the future. Ganguly and Dravid are fine players, but what's wrong in resting them for a few matches so that the youth can get out and play a few matches, garnering them the experience needed for when there will be no seniors (or the seniors will be, in fact, Dhoni himself).
I don't feel Dhoni was being smug or condescending. This is his time to feel vindicated. And why not? He led a team against all odds (twice) to victory. And both times he was made to listen to criticisms in terms of the makeup of the team. He did a fine job in Australia, seniors or not, and has earned the right to be satisfied. He especially deserves full credit when earlier, the selectors themselves refrained from taking credit for dropping Ganguly and Dravid.
Posted by orih on March 21 2008, 07:40 AM GMT
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