"He had a feel for the game"- Ajit Agarkar believes artificial intelligence cannot replicate MS Dhoni's captaincy instinct
Former Indian all-rounder Ajit Agarkar believes that while artificial intelligence and data-driven approaches help teams in modern-day cricket, they cannot replicate the human instinct of captains like the great MS Dhoni.
Throughout his career, Dhoni made some captaincy calls that at the time looked a bit strange, but ended up being a masterstroke. Agarkar believes artificial intelligence and numbers wouldn't suggest such moves in crunch situations and that's why he feels the captain's gut instinct still cannot be replicated.
Here's what Ajit Agarkar was quoted as saying by PTI:
"You need a captain on the ground because not everything that you've planned is going to go your way. On a particular day it might, but most days it won't. And that's where you need human instinct. That's why you call MS Dhoni a great captain because he had a feel for the game. He knew what was happening and how the game was changing."
After winning five IPL titles and two Champions League T20s, MS Dhoni has moved on from the captaincy role at the Chennai Super Kings with Ruturaj Gaikwad being his successor.
Ajit Agarkar on the IPL talent pool
Ajit Agarkar is also the chief selector of the Indian men's cricket team and recently was responsible for blooding in a lot of youth in the Test setup. The likes of Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, etc. played crucial roles in India beating England 4-1 in the Test series earlier this year.
Agarkar feels IPL deserves the credit for making fresh faces ready to take to the international stage. Shedding light on the importance of temperament among these players, Agarkar stated:
"IPL is a fairly big stage because of the pressures involved, big crowds. You might be bowling to the top batters in the world, or you might be facing one of the top bowlers in the world, and that's when you stand up and that's where you judge the temperament of a player, whether he can do it consistently."
With a similar talent pool available in the shortest format, it will be interesting to see whether Ajit Agarkar takes some bold calls when it comes to selecting India's T20 World Cup 2024 squad.