Sourav 'Dada' Ganguly vs ‘Captain Cool’ Dhoni: Who’s the better leader? (Part 2)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, like Sourav Ganguly, has backed his players to perform for him
After taking on Ganguly’s case in Part 1, the debate continues…
Building an empire is a different thing, but taking it to new heights is entirely different. Ricky Ponting took over an already world class side from Steve Waugh and won two World Cups and a Champions Trophy, also winning an Ashes 5-0. However, people are still critical of his captaincy and say that he led a world class team molded by predecessor Waugh. He doesn’t quite get the credit for being a great captain.
Same is the case with MS Dhoni. Having won every major ICC tournament and being the only captain to have done so, the Jharkhand lad has established himself as the most successful Indian captain. However, he still gets serious competition from Sourav Ganguly to be labeled as India’s best ever captain. Critics still consider luck to be a major factor in his dream run and as in Ponting’s case, credit Ganguly with building the team that Dhoni captains today. However, as I said earlier, building an empire is a different thing, but taking it to new heights is entirely different…
MS Dhoni
Making his debut against Bangladesh in December 2004, the-then long haired Dhoni was picked for the tour after some impressive performances for India A. He earned instant fame with breathtaking knocks of 148 off 123 balls and 183 off 145 balls, both in 2005 against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively. The cricket-crazy India had found its’ new hero and Dhoni’s long hair became a national phenomenon.
Over the course of the next couple of years, he solidified his position in the team and was named vice-captain to Rahul Dravid for the ODI series against South Africa and England in 2007. His fairytale run started when Dhoni was named captain of the Indian team for the inaugural World Twenty in South Africa in 2007. Defying all expectations, he led India to victory in the tournament and was soon appointed India’s ODI captain.
He established himself as a premier one-day batsman and after transitional captaincy stints of Dravid and Anil Kumble, the baton was fully handed to him. Under him the team scaled new heights and won their very first CB Series in Australia by blanking the hosts 2-0 in the finals. They also avenged their loss in the 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy by defeating the Australians 2-0 at home, with both victories coming under Dhoni’s leadership who was then vice-captain.
Under him, the Indian team also became the no.1 Test team for the first time in their history in December 2009. The peak of his captaincy came when he led India to their second World Cup triumph in 2011, leading from the front in the final against Sri Lanka. This prompted even Sachin Tendulkar to call Dhoni the “best captain I have ever played under”. He also led India to a 4-0 whitewash of Australia and won the recent Champions Trophy.
Apart from all his international accolades, Dhoni’s franchise Chennai Super Kings have been two-times IPL champions and three-times runners-up, and also have a Champions League T20 title to their name, thus making them the most successful IPL franchise.
Dhoni has had his share of big failures. After winning the inaugural World T20, the team failed to progress past the Super 6 stage in the next three editions of the tournament and was eliminated from the group stages of the 2009 Champions Trophy. In 2011-12, after the high of winning the World Cup, the team went on an eight-Test winless run in England and Australia, failing to win even a single match across all three formats in England. Losing the first bilateral one-day series in five years against arch-rivals Pakistan, at home in December 2012, was another high-profile failure.