#IPL6: Chennai add to Pune’s misery, inflict 37-run defeat on hosts #CSK

Suresh Raina worked his way to a superb 63 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni played an explosive 16-ball 45-run knock as Chennai Super Kings strengthened their position at the top of the table with a 37-run win over Pune Warriors in an IPL match, in Pune on Tuesday.

Raina anchored the innings with his 50-ball knock and skipper Dhoni provided the late fireworks as Chennai overcame a slow start to post a challenging 164 for three.

Paceman Mohit Sharma then rocked the Pune top-order in a fiery spell in which he dismissed Aaron Finch (15), T Suman (0) and Yuvraj Singh (5) from which the hosts never recovered and managed just 127 for nine.

Finch was caught behind and Suman was trapped in successive balls in Mohit’s first over. He returned to scalp Yuvraj. Raina’s electric fielding resulted in run out of Robin Uthappa (10) which left the hosts reeling at 43 for four inside fifth over.

As if that was not enough, Luke Wright was run out in an unfortunate manner when Steve Smith played a solid straight drive but the ball touched Albie Morkel‘s foot before hitting the stumps and Wright was caught out of crease.

A terrible mix up meant that Abhihek Nayar too was runout. Smith handed back a simple catch to Ravindra Jadeja a few overs later and with that wicket Pune were on their way to their eighth defeat from 10 matches.

Earlier, Raina showed a lot of maturity while batting as he did the spade work along with S Badrinath (34) while Dhoni batted amazingly in his side’s remarkable recovery later on.

After losing Michael Hussey (5) and Wriddhiman Sahara (13) early, Raina and Badrinath steadied the ship with a 75-run stand for the third wicket.

But it was 61-run unbeaten partnership between Raina and Dhoni for the fourth wicket that spoilt all the good work Pune bowlers had done earlier.

It rained fours and sixes when Dhoni batted as Chennai collected 50 runs in the last four overs. Dhoni punished hapless bowlers with seven boundaries including three sixes, the last one coming off the last ball.

Raina helped himself with five fours and a six.

Duncan Fletcher gets one year extension as India coach

Duncan Fletcher‘s contract as India‘s cricket coach was today extended by one more year despite a below-par track record, setting to rest the intense speculation on his future.

The decision to renew the 64-year-old Fletcher’s two-year contract, which was due to end at the end of this month, was taken by the BCCI’s Working Committee which met in Mumbai on Tuesday

“The Board has decided to extend his contract. But we have to discuss the terms. I can’t tell you the deliberations of the Board. All I can tell you is what is the decision. We have decided to extend it,” BCCI president N Srinivasan told reporters after the meeting.

Speculation was rife about Fletcher’s future after India lost 10 Test matches including a home series against England recently apart from ‘whitewashes’ in England and Australia.

A senior BCCI official told PTI that continuing with Fletcher made sense, keeping in mind the Test series in South Africa.

“Since he has been with the team for two years, we don’t want to take a knee-jerk reaction considering the next big Test series is in South Africa. It will be risky and unfair on a new coach to give him charge in South Africa and expect good results from him,” the official said.

Under Fletcher, India had lost 10 out of the 22 Test matches before the ongoing match in Mohali having won only eight. The only away Test win was against West Indies nearly two years back just when Fletcher had taken charge.

In the 44 ODI matches played by India post their World Cup triumph, the ‘Men in Blue‘ have won 25 matches losing 16. Two were tied and one match did not yield any result.

In T20s, India won nine of the 17 matches losing the other eight. India did not qualify for the Asia Cup final and also couldn’t make it to the last four in the ICC World T20.

Legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar questioned Fletcher’s extension but said he should get the backing since he has now been re-appointed.

“I wonder whether an Indian coach would have survived after 10 Test defeats,” Gavaskar quipped.

Incidentally, Fletcher was roped in on recommendations of highly successful former India coach Gary Kirsten. The Indian players have had high regards for him as a person with a great technical acumen but as far as strategy is concerned, he has been more of a backroom character.

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Tendulkar’s Aussie moment of reckoning

Sachin Tendulkar’s desire to play and the hunger to compete have not diminished, but it is the other intangibles — of sinews grappling with age, of rival bowlers sensing a tentativeness and a dressing room that is increasingly featuring an entirely new generation — that he has to shrug off, writes K.C. Vijaya Kumar. 

 

The legend of Sachin Tendulkar had its finest first exposition on a Perth pitch, always known to be the strongest ally of pace and bounce. During that February in 1992, Tendulkar’s 114 in a losing cause, proved that he had the skill to conquer all odds at an individual level though the rest of the team, hamstrung by its own drawbacks at that juncture, may not have rallied around his genius.

Most importantly, Tendulkar had truly arrived at that moment though a few cricket historians may look at his famous assault on Abdul Qadir in Pakistan in 1989, as the first steps to his becoming the ‘forever dispenser of hopes’ to the Indian Diaspora. It is an image that has lasted nearly 24 years and it looks as though the maestro’s cricketing life has come a full circle with Australia setting foot in Chennai as a prelude to a four-match Test series.

This surely would be the Lord of Batting Numbers’ final tilt against Australia, often his rousing opponent in a chequered career. He would turn 40 this April and there is only so much his body can endure. If the 1991-92 tour was all about Tendulkar proving that he was indeed the numero-uno of Indian batting then despite the presence of Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammad Azharuddin and Sanjay Manjrekar, the current joust against Michael Clarke’s men is all about proving that his skill-sets have not dimmed.

Sachin Tendulkar with a gen-next player, Ajinkya Rahane. As one gets on in years one should guard from going out of ear-shot.

 The first flowering was relatively easy as he had age on his side while this final act would draw every physical and mental resource in his body. A familiar foe might well provide him the needed impetus, a trait that he has amply revealed over two decades. Be it countering Shane Warne’s leg-breaks with a blistering attack in India, be it the ‘Desert Storm’ knocks in Sharjah, be it eschewing the cover-drive while compiling a double-century in Sydney in 2004 or be it the ungainly sight of him sledging Glenn McGrath in an ODI, Tendulkar has revealed his multiple layers while squaring up against Australia.

Past masters like Sunil Gavaskar, G. R. Viswanath and Vengsarkar were largely judged by their runs against the West Indies but when Tendulkar reigned, it was runs against Australia that defined a batsman’s pedigree though he did script knocks of pathos (Chennai 1999) and panache (Centurion, 2003 World Cup) against Pakistan.

Yet, for a man often spoken of in the same breath as Sir Don Bradman — the latter having also referred to the Mumbaikar as the closest to his batting style — it is often Australia that has provided a peg for Tendulkar to hang his coat of greatness. More than ever, in the aftermath of Rahul Dravid and V. V. S. Laxman’s retirements, India needs Tendulkar to wear that coat again and do battle against his old rival.

 

The extreme dependence on him to provide stability to a weak middle-order despite the promise of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara and his own travails against diminishing reflexes will test Tendulkar.

In the lead-up to this series, Tendulkar has scored a 108 in the Ranji Trophy and an unbeaten 140 in the Irani Cup. It is a good augury and yet his back-story in Tests has revealed a despondent streak broken by a few incandescent outings.

Tendulkar’s last Test hundred (146) came against South Africa in Cape Town in January 2011. After that brilliant knock, he has played in 30 innings without reaching the three-figure mark. The runs have not matched up to the stratospheric standards that he himself has set. His last 10 innings read: 13, 19, 17, 27, 13, 8, 8, 76, 5 and 2. It is not that only Tendulkar struggled and the rest have prospered because with the exception of Dravid in England and the few outings of Kohli and Pujara, the others too are equally guilty of a run-drought.

It is imperative for India that Tendulkar gets back into the groove soon, for, his insight will be invaluable on the tour of South Africa later this year.

 The master’s desire to play and the hunger to compete have not diminished, but it is the other intangibles — of sinews grappling with age, of rival bowlers sensing a tentativeness and a dressing room that is increasingly featuring an entirely new generation — that he has to shrug off. A man can feel weary when most of his mates have walked into the sunset. However, playing for India is his biggest high and that coupled with the itch to make up for the losses against Australia during the last tour, will drive Tendulkar.

“As long as I believe that I can contribute to the team, I will play,” he had said last year. In the same breath, he added: “I take it series by series.” Ideally India needs Tendulkar’s guidance when the team sets foot in South Africa in November, later this year but it remains to be seen if he would will himself for another joust against Dale Steyn.

The series against Australia will throw pointers to the Tendulkar story. As ever, India needs him. Now.

PTI

Michael Vaughn lauds MS Dhoni on double-century

Former England captain Michael Vaughn lauded Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday for his performance against Australia on the third day of the first cricket Test match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Dhoni scored an unbeaten 206 to take India to 515/8, to give the hosts a lead of 135 runs with two days left in the match. During his innings, which included 22 boundaries and five massive sixes, he scored at a strike rate of 84.77.

“The coolest man in world cricket MS Dhoni delivers when it most matters… Incredible innings against the Aussies… #Dhoni,” tweeted Vaughan.

In the process, Dhoni also crossed the 4,000-run mark in Test cricket. He also has the highest individual score by an Indian wicketkeeper-batsman when he surpassed Budhi Kunderan‘s 192.

Legendary spinner Shane Warne was also impressed by Dhoni’s knock.

“WOW, MS Dhoni is going off here in Chennai, amazing batting,” tweeted Warne.

Busy Mahendra Singh Dhoni fails to appear for B.Com Exam

A busy cricketing schedule has led to Indian team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni failing to even appear in the first semester examination of B Com degree after enrolling himself for the course five years ago at a city college.

Dhoni, who enrolled in B. Com in 2008 at St Xavier’s College here, could not clear even one of his six semesters, “absenting” from examinations due to busy cricketing schedule, and his results in the first semester had been marked as absent.

“Yes, he (Dhoni) would have been among the students who got the degrees,” Principal Nicholas Tete said, after giving away degrees to 1,790 students of his St Xavier’s College on the occasion of the fourth Graduation Ceremony here yesterday.

“Dhoni registered for the three-year course in 2008, which is effective for five years. And he can renew afresh, (if he wants to complete the course),” Tete told PTI here today.

“We had prepared study material for his first semester and sent them to him. (But) he did not respond,” he said.

Dhoni, who has Office Administration and Secretarial Practice as his subjects in B. Com, had completed Plus-II in 1999.

“A teacher feels good giving away degrees to successful students, and the students feel happy after completing a course successfully,” Dean Jayant Sinha, one of the teachers in the college, said, adding happiness would have been doubled had Dhoni completed the course and got the degree.

“However, he can complete the course in future. Education is a continuing process,” Sinha said.

The degrees were given to the batch of 2008-11, when Dhoni had registered for the course, he added.

2013 IPL Auctions: Players Who Made Big Bucks

Cricket is a game that not just attracts Indians but people worldwide. The Indian Premier League or IPL is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket championship in India and has been keenly followed by all. The world’s richest cricket tournament auctions this year saw team buyers picking their choices and here are players who hit jack pot this season, as listed by the Economic Times.

Glenn Maxwell:

Country: Australia
Team: Mumbai Indians
Price: $1 million (Rs 5.3 crore)
Base Price: $200,000

Glen is an all-rounder, bowling right-arm off spin and batting with an average of over 30 for Victoria in interstate one day cricket. He set the record for the fastest ever half-century in Australian interstate one day cricket in 2011, reaching 50 runs off 19 balls. He certainly got a hefty price tag at IPL’s auction.

Ajantha Mendis:

Country: Sri Lanka
Team: Pune Warriors
Price: $725,000 (Rs 3.8 crore)
Base Price: $50,000

Mendis is known for his slow-medium, bowling a mixture of deliveries, including googlies, off-breaks, top-spinners, flippers and leg-breaks, as well as the carrom ball, released with a flick of his middle finger. He hit jack pot this IPL auction with a tag of 3.8 crore.

Kane Richardson:

Country: Australia
Team: Pune Warriors
Price: $700,000 (Rs 3.7 crore)
Base Price: $100,000

Third on the list is Kane Richardson who was bought by the Pune Warriors for $700,000 in the IPL auction. He is a right arm fast bowler swings ball into right-handers and gets a good bounce. On the back of his strong performances for South Australia and the Adelaide Strikers, Kane replaced the injured Mitchell Starc in the 2nd one day international against Sri Lanka in January this year making his international debut.

Abhishek Nayar:

Country: India
Team: Pune Warriors
Price: $675,000 (Rs 3.6 crore)
Base Price:$100,000

Abhishek Nayar is an all-rounder who bats left-handed and bowls right-arm medium pace. He is the highest paid Indian in this auction. Abishek has time and again got Mumbai crucial breakthrough’s in his young unsurpassed career.

Thisara Perera:

Country: Sri Lanka
Team: Sunrisers Hyderabad
Price: $675,000 (Rs 3.6 crore)
Base Price: $ 50,000

Thisara Perera represents Sri Lanka at the Test, One Day International and Twenty20 levels. He is an aggressive left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He surfaced as a big impact player for Sri Lanka. He was bought for a whopping Rs 3.6 crore.

Chris Morris:

Country: South Africa
Team: Chennai Super Kings
Price: $ 625,000 (Rs 3.3 crore)
Base Price: $20,000

Chris Morris is bought by Chennai Super Kings for a whopping 3.3 crore. He is another great player who is already being compared with Lance Kluseer for his ability as match-finisher, both with bat and ball. His auction price surpassed his base price by more than 30 times.

S Senanayake:

Country: Sri Laka
Team: Kolkata Knight Riders
Price: $625,000 (Rs 3.3 crore)
Base Price: $ 50,000

Senanayake is an all-rounder; he bats right-handed and bowls off spin. The 27-year-old has been top bowler in Sri Lanka’s domestic ODI circuit. He made his international debut for Sri Lanka in the fourth One Day International (ODI) of the tour of South Africa in January last year. His call-up followed a domestic season where he had taken the most wickets in the Sri Lankan Premier League limited overs tournament.

Michael Clarke:

Country: Australia
Team: Pune Warriors
Base Price: $400,000 (Rs 2.1 crore)

Michael Clarke, nicknamed ‘Pup’ is a right-handed middle-order batsman, and an occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler. In November 2012, he scored a double century at the Adelaide Oval, making him the only Test batsman to ever achieve four double centuries in a calendar year. He is known for his partnerships with Mike Hussey. He went to Pune Warriors for his base price of $400,000.

Ricky Ponting:

Country: Australia
Team: Mumbai Indians
Base Price: $400,000 (Rs 2.1 crore)

Ponting is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as an extremely occasional bowler. He is widely considered by many to be the best batsman of the modern era, along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Jacques Kallis, etc. Ponting went to Mumbai Indians fetching base price of $400,000.

Phil Huges:
Country: Australia
Team: Mumbai Indians

Nathan McCullum
Country: New Zealand
Team Sunrisers Hyderabad

Clint McKay
Country: Australia
Team: Sunrisers Hyderabad

Phil Huges, Nathan McCullum and Clint McKay went into their respective IPL teams for $100,000.
South African cricketer Ryan McLaren went into Kolkata Knight Riders for $ 50,000.
Only 37 players out of 108 found buyers and those ignored include Martin Guptill, Aaron Finch, and Vernon Philander.

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First things first: Get Tendulkar off Dhoni’s back

India’s decline in Test cricket began in England last year, and it has touched its nadir against the same team here at home now. This 18-month period is also when Sachin Tendulkar’s batting has gone from bad to worse. The two are connected because he occupies the No 4 slot in the batting line-up, normally reserved for the best batsman in the side. His failure in match after match, with a solitary fifty in the last 13 innings from eight Tests, and not a single triple-figure knock in 17 Tests, has put huge pressure on the Indian captain.

Others have failed too, notably the experienced opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, but not as badly as Tendulkar — they average around 35 this series compared to the former master’s 18. Besides, it’s far easier to bat at No 4 once the ball has lost its zing. Sehwag would love to change places with Tendulkar. Dhoni could also have been better served in the middle order by an Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma or Manoj Tiwary, who have been piling on runs in domestic cricket. After all, the only bright spots in India’s batting over the past couple of years have been newcomers Virat Kohli, who got centuries against Australia and New Zealand, and Cheteshwar Pujara, who got a double hundred and a century in this series.

It’s our administrators and selectors who are primarily responsible for our Test cricket having hit rock-bottom. They have been too slow to groom new talent in place of ageing stars. In Australia, the talented Rohit Sharma, picked for the series when he was in peak form, saw a regular procession of batting failures without getting to make a single appearance. Ajinkya Rahane, who came into the reckoning with 1,000-plus runs in a season, has been warming the benches for three series now while his more illustrious fellow Mumbaikar is allowed to carry on with impunity despite his flops.

MS Dhoni may well be a misfit as a Test captain, like a former selector said this week, but shouldn’t he first be allowed to lead a side without handicaps? It’s strange that Mohinder Amarnath says the selectors wanted a change of captaincy after the whitewash in Australia, but when it comes to Sachin Tendulkar they just want the great man to think whether it’s time for him to go. What if he is reluctant to let go of all the sponsorships that come his way by virtue of his place in the team?

Besides, it smacks of double standards. If Tendulkar can’t be dropped because of his past records, how can Dhoni be replaced? He has two World Cups under his belt, and a fabulous Test match record until 2011 when the Indian batting went into terminal decline in England. Amarnath may be quite right to be peeved at the board president interfering in selection and preventing him from sacking Dhoni. But the “bunch of jokers”, as Amarnath once described the selectors, have no locus standi to talk about Dhoni’s performance if they are going to continue to shy away from their responsibility to get the monkey off the Indian captain’s back.

Dhoni must lead his side back to top

MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli have proved India have inner strength, but even if they win this match and level the series, they still have to be honest with the state of their Test team.

To draw a series 2-2 against England would be a failure for an Indian side playing at home. There are fundamental changes that have to be made to the culture and mentality of the Test set up.

Dhoni will be remembered as the man who delivered the World Cup with one of cricket’s most iconic sixes. But his legacy as Test captain has to be to manage the transition of the team. He needs to produce a new Indian side playing with pure passion, commitment and energy. In other words, exactly how they play in Twenty20 and one-day cricket.

He has a great coach alongside him in Duncan Fletcher but he needs more power to shape the direction of Indian cricket. He must be tearing out what hair he has left when he sees the mentality of this Indian Test side.

There have been times during this series when they have simply looked uninterested. When they are on top they are arrogant and buzzing. But as soon as England took control in Mumbai, seven or eight of them went missing.

Selfish and weak players do not want to put in the hard work for the team. Test matches are won by doing all the boring stuff, the hard yards that can make a difference. In the field Indian batsmen wander around disengaged, and uninterested. But that is when you need to help the bowlers. Run around and make sure you are backing up so the bowlers don’t have to do too much work in the field in such hot conditions.

“Hunt in packs” was one of Duncan’s favourite catchphrases when he worked with England and you can bet he’ll be using it again with India, but he must be frustrated as it falls on deaf ears.

What will add to the frustration is that these players are so skillful. Duncan loves working with young cricketers which is why he will want to be around to manage the transition from the Tendulkar era. He will want to build a team around guys like Kohli or Ravindra Jadeja, a kid who bowls left-arm spin, can score hundreds and is good in the field.

He will love working with them in the nets because he knows they have immense talent. I’m sure they pick things up quickly so teaching them batting will be a real pleasure. For India to move forward in the Test arena they need to give someone from the outside, like Duncan, proper power. Don’t just make him coach and in charge of the first team.

Listen to what he has to say about all the players and how to move forward. If they don’t they will end up falling further behind and that is a worry for Test cricket.

He will also use Dhoni’s innings as an example to the rest. He arrived at the crease at 87 for four knowing that if he failed, India would lose the Test series 3-1. For him to play the way he did on a wicket he would not have enjoyed batting on is a tremendous performance. To control his emotions and play well, to drag the team back in the match under such immense pressure was down to pure mental strength.

I look at Dhoni and he reminds me of Kevin Pietersen. Both are at their best when they have copped some flak. In one-day cricket the buzz of the crowds and the atmosphere is enough to stoke his fire but in Test cricket Dhoni needs the pressure of having to perform to bring out his best. You don’t produce the innings he has played in one-day cricket without being a cool customer.

I know there has been pressure on him in India but he showed yesterday he cares about Test cricket and why he should stay on as captain. He all but survived an entire day of Test cricket made tough mainly because England have James Anderson bowling at his peak.

His skill levels are so high and his control so good now that it is fascinating watching him out-think the batsman. He also bowls with a cockiness that earns him wickets. With one withering look he tells a batsman he is not very good. One stare can kill the confidence of a player. It reminds me of Glen McGrath. It’s not arrogance on Jimmy’s part. In fact he probably doesn’t even know he is doing it. It is just a strut that great bowlers have. He is in a different league to when he played under me. He is now the perfect bowler. He has he perfect pace. He doesn’t take too much out of himself when he bowls which means he can stay on for long periods. I hope he plays for as long as he can because he can break all records.

MICHAEL VAUGHAN

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Mohinder On Dhoni-’Joker of Jokers’

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Ganguly, Dravid, Dhoni: Who’s the Best Captain?

All three had captained the Indian team (One still does) - in three different styles and all the three are at very different stages of their careers today but the Indian Premier League (IPL) brings them together on a single platform where their leadership skills are evaluated them – Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni once again – quite differently.

All the three have contributed immensely to Indian cricket and many argue that a comparison of these outstanding three is unfair. However, debate, undoubtedly, is also the best part of watching sport. And there is the IPL battle being played out in front of us and so, we can be the judges of the present without much of assumptions and imaginations.

There is a difference, a unique feel that Sourav Ganguly brings on to the cricketing field when he takes over the captaincy. And today when he is back with his leadership tactics on the field, the nostalgia begins to jumpstart among the cricket frenzy Indian crowd.

Ganguly’s inputs as the captain of Pune Warriors have been noticeable when his side overthrew the Mumbai Indians on the third match of IPL V. The furious captain rung in the changes and with his unique style, he made some remarkable field placements and as always, he was constantly looking for wickets.

Ganguly who took over the captaincy of Indian team at a very tumultuous period with a task of lifting a team that lost its credibility to the match-fixing controversy. He did rebuild the side reeling from the fallout and had to battle the odds stacked against the Indian team such as “tigers at home and lambs away.” The flamboyant captain created a team that wants afraid of anyone, just like Ganguly who always spoke his mind and dared the orthodox as he took off his shirt at the Mecca of cricket – eventually making the Indian team an aggressive and confident unit.

As today he leads a unit of new commerce, it should be noted that it was with his backing, India saw the emergence of a bunch of talented youngster like Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, and Harbhajan Singh etc. And in the absence of Yuvraj, Ganguly comes to the Pune Team as its captain and mentor, with a not-so-good record in KKR, to prove something and a motivated Ganguly can do wonders.

One of the finest batsmen in the world, technically perfect, carrying a rich experience of 16 years of international cricket, Rahul Dravid will remain to be admired for his exemplary work ethic, meticulousness, and methodical approach for eternity. On the grounds of IPL season V, the world saw a highly spirited Rahul Dravid who carried the role of captaincy and coaching from its talismanic leader Shane Warne with ease, taking the his team Rajasthan Royals to the top spots in the points table. Dravid, with a different temperament that of Warne, could handle the transition with exceptional maturity and cricketing intelligence.

“Warne was loud, aggressive and loved being the centre of attention. Rahul Dravid is quiet, restrained and simply goes about his business,” Tariq Engineer writes espncricinfo. However, both these cricketing greats share something in common – their ability to lead by example and deep knowledge of the game. “A game of T20 lasts for little over three hours, but he bats for three hours on days we have to practice! His work ethics and discipline have become the benchmark for the team,” Dishant Yagnik says about his captain.

It’s no wonder Rahul exhibit his best during this IPL season as he is probably under the least amount of pressure because for Dravid, these two months of IPL is the cooling down period for him. The former Indian captain, who always took decisions by books than by pure instinct, has the best of his chances and he proves to be implementing his great knowledge of the game this time.

Dhoni’s record as skipper makes him one of the best captains the team ever had; however, the recent poor shows first in England and then the tour Down Under have severely dented his reputation.

Dhoni added a finishing touch to what his captain Sourav Ganguly had began with and brought in a new culture of consistency and the team went on to clinch a number of tournaments. Indian cricket team reached to the No.1 in Test cricket and in the biggest games, unlike the past, the team didn’t crumble under pressure. As a result, Team India Under MS Dhoni made history by winning the top tittles in ICC World T20 2007 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

The fearlessness that Dhoni instilled in the team has helped the new comers like Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin, to name a few, who exhibited their exceptional skills at the highest levels. And the good forms of the seniors like Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman brought back the good memories of the Ganguly era.

It’s here Dhoni faces the real test. After having an exceptional period of captaincy, India’s awful performance away that brought back unwanted memories of the past, generated doubts from different corners on his leadership qualities. The IPL extravaganza is going to be a salvage operation for Dhoni, a chance for him to figure out what’s gone missing and this cricketing festival, without the pressure of leading a national team, will draw his true self once again.