Wednesday 17 July 2013

I came across this question on QUORA
Mahendra Singh Dhoni: Why so many Indian people hate MS Dhoni when he as a Captain and an individual player has achieved quite a lot in a short span of time and making Team India one of the most successful teams in recent times?

and my answer to it.....

ANS: In a nutshell: Its plain Jealousy

Long-winded answer: In 1990's India had good players, but as a team we could never perform to the level of being among the top 3 teams in the world. We had sporadic wins but few players like Sachin and Dravid would give exceptional performances even though the team lost and they were hailed as  lone warriors. When Sourav Ganguly took over the captaincy we started performing better than in 1990-2000 but Ganguly hardly got credit for his captaincy skills. We didn't win any major International events but we won many bilateral tour's including the famous Natwest series in England and ODI, test series against Pakistan in 2004. He was just recognized as a captain who taught us to win on foreign countries and the individual players received credit for their performances. Moreover  he was removed as he was not performing as a player in 2005 and we lost in 2003 world cup final and hence even though he had exceptional captaincy skills we never gave much credit to him as the one who was steering us through victories.

Now enters MSD. He steers India to the T20 world cup victory where he didn't give any extraordinary performance as a batsmen but played a crucial role in some innings. When we won the T20 world cup, everybody in the print and electronic media started hailing him as the fulcrum for the victory. From then he was made the ODI captain and we won the CB series in Australia. A plethora of appreciations from many cricketers were thrown at him without any hitch. Even though Sachin, Gambhir scored well and Irfan Pathan took many wickets much of the discussions and accolades were on tactic's used  by him and his ability to maintain his calm composure in any sort of predicament. In 2011 world cup he didn't play any good innings until the final. But in the final he scored 91(78) which was his first fifty in 15 innings. Here Gambhir scored 97 but  there were hardly any praises for his blistering performance.


Some argument's his haters use are
  1. He takes all the praise for the victories.
  2. He bats at the end of the innings to maintain his average.
  3. He disregard's seniors and removes them mercilessly from the team.
  4. He is a mediocre wicketkeeper and a batsmen without any technique but is praised as the best wicketkeeper batsmen in the world.
  5. Dada was the best captain India had but MSD is receiving the unnecessary credit

I don't think that he is hated by many people in the country but there are only a few who hate him. He never asked for any credit but it's the media, ex-cricketers and cricket fans who are giving him the compliments for the team victory. There can be no ridiculous statement than saying that he bats at end of the innings to maintain his average. Then why do all the top players like to play as openers or at number 3,4 positions. Without any doubt he is not the best wicketkeeper but the best wicketkeeper batsmen India ever had after Farokh Engineer. We had been dismayed for the lack of a wicketkeeper batsmen from 1990 and no one could keep that position for a long time. Dinesh karthik and Parthiv Patel were good players but were not promising in that 2002-2005 period. He has an orthodox batting style but has been able to  hit long sixes and produce steady innings as well for a long period of time. His innings in 2011 World Cup final was of staggering self-belief, and deadly effectiveness. This innings of brutal savagery could not have come at a better time, or on a bigger stage. Excessive praise he receives is the only reason why few people hate him but how can MSD be responsible for the praises he receives. In an attempt to express their hate they use above reasons as well as saying he is lucky. Nevertheless " Fortune favors the brave with a prepared mind".

There are two kinds of leaders: one, who let the game change them and their decisions; and others who change the game with their decisions. Ganguly and Dhoni both are of the latter part.Comparing MSD and Ganguly is as preposterous as comparing apples and oranges. Though they might have played for the same country and game they captained the team in different situations. Both posses the incredible qualities required to lead a team but their methods are completely different. If you want to decide their greatness by statistics you cant recognize the greatness of these individuals. Both helped the Indian team to climb the top spot in International Cricket. Ganguly laid the perfect foundation and Dhoni has built a beautiful penthouse on it. Hate him or love him you have to respect this man for his ability in steering the Indian cricket team to many victories

"He [Dhoni] is the best captain I have played under.He is very sharp and always alert. He reads the situation well and is open to sharing ideas. He always has discussions with bowlers, batsmen and senior players separately.He is always calm and never shows his frustration. These are some of the human qualities which have made him such a good captain. He is a fantastic captain."- Sachin Tendulkar

His ability to remain calm and maintain humility in either win or loss is difficult to develop and indicates his mature mind. His six of Kulasekara on that electric evening of April 2nd 2011 at Wankhede will remain as the symbol of the world cup victory and these scene will be played over and over in the euphoric memories of the Indian cricket fan.