Being the Captain of the Indian Cricket team is a tougher job than being the President of the country. Rohan Tawde tells you about the ordeal that the skipper of India has to go through during his reign at the helm.
I am an ardent follower and admirer of the game of Cricket but personally I don’t understand the fan following and the role of media in India. Here, the so-called “Avid or Die-hard Supporters” of Indian cricket treat their favourite players as Gods and worship them crazily. Even the media is not far behind as they pin up every in-form player as the new face of the nation and put them right at the top. The problem starts when the player and team performs badly, as these same fans and media then drag their idol down back to the earth. Being disappointed at your team’s loss is explainable, but one should not go over the top and over-react.
When it comes to the captains of India, the story is sorrier, as every new appointee for the top job, is expected to change the scenario of Indian cricket. He is expected to turn the team into overnight world-beaters and an invincible forceaand if the prospects are not achieved, the fans and media call for the immediate sacking of the skipper, without even analyzing with reason. There is a notable adage- “The team is as good as its Captain”, which means an outfit can only do well if it has an competent leader to guide them, and this is only possible if the post of the skipper is stable for a long time.
It’s very apparent that the Australian team has done tremendously well under just two captains (Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting) in the past 12 years. Even for the Proteas, it has been Graeme Smith who has been leading them successfully since 2003. Whereas, for India, there have been four captains in the past decade. What’s the reason for such instability? The answer is the eternal pressure of the hyper expectations from the people and media of our country.
Let’s take the case of Sachin Tendulkar, who was appointed the captain of India for the first time in the late 90s. His tenure began well as he led the country to victories in the Titan Cup and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Everybody went ga-ga about Tendulkar’s leadership qualities within just one year, but soon the problems started creeping in with India losing consistently during the 1997-98 season under the same man. The media started claiming that the ‘master-blaster’ cannot handle the pressure of captaincy and as a consequence, both team India and his batting are suffering. Eventually, Sachin succumbed to the criticism and resigned as the skipper of the team in early part of 1999. He was appointed again for the task in 2000, but his second stint was ever shorter as the similar story continued.
Then came Sourav Ganguly, the man who was tagged as the fiery leader that India always needed. The fans and media saw him as an aggressive character that budded plenty of young guns into future stars. Under ‘Dada’, India achieved tremendous feats like entering the final of World Cup, beating Pakistan in ODI as well as Test series and winning the Natwest Trophy in 2002. But as soon as his personal form started dripping, the media latched on to the opportunity to stain his reputation. Ganguly became a star more for his off-field antics, as he was badly publicized for his rift with Coach Greg Chappel, and his attitude in the dressing room was also questioned. As a result, Sourav was sacked as captain and then chucked out of the team.
His successor Rahul Dravid was also welcomed to the captaincy task like the previous possessors by the whole country. Everybody believed that it was Dravid’s cool, calm and collective attitude, which was required for the Indian team to develop into a strong unit. The ‘Men in Blue’ were marked as contenders for the World Cup in Caribbean, but a humiliating exit in the Group Stage made things worse. Dravid became the villain of the country and then some disconsolate events occurred as players’ effigies were burnt and their families were attacked too. ‘The Wall’ finally crumbled under imperativeness and resigned after the England tour in 2007.
MS Dhoni then took over the reigns and commenced a new chapter in the history of Indian cricket. He was an instant hit as he clinched the T20 World Cup for India, won ODI as well as Test series abroad. He represented the new-look Indian team which was fearless and capable. Terms like the ‘Smiling Assassin’, the ‘Golden Boy of Cricket’, ‘Master-tactician’, ‘Man with the Midas touch’ were associated with Dhoni in less than two years of his captaincy stint. But as one can imagine with the Indian fans, the picture has turned around after India’s shock exit from the 2009 WT20 in England.
The current Indian skipper’s ‘Mr. Perfect’ image has come under severe criticism after the defending champions failed to win a single match in the Super Eight stages and were knocked out the tournament in a poor manner. Soon errors were detected in Dhoni’s captaincy and tactics, which weren’t visible before. Cricket historians and experts who were all praise for Mahi’s captainship skills a few months back, started blaming him entirely for the loss. Perhaps the most pathetic scenes were the burning of Dhoni’s images by the zealous fans in his hometown of Ranchi. Does any captain have to pay such a big price for a loss in a tournament? I guess only Indian skippers have to suffer such things.
It’s the pressure from the media which besets any Indian captain the most. The likes of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid have knuckled under it and maybe Dhoni is feeling the heat too. His tussle with the Journalist section began when he skipped the Padma Shri Awards function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was highlighted as a person who loves shooting ads, money and fame more than his country. The rumours of his conflict with Sehwag were blown out of proportion and Dhoni’s counteract of lining up the whole Indian team at the press conference as a show of unity came under heavy criticism.
Even at the WT20 post-match press conferences, Dhoni seemed baffled as he contradicted his statements. After the loss to South Africa, the Indian skipper stated that fatigue was one of the factors for their poor performance in the tournament. But in his latest press release, he rubbished the fact and blamed the poor batting display for the World Cup exit.
It’s very apparent that Dhoni is feeling the weight of the captaincy burden. It would be interesting to see if he can avoid the disastrous fate that the previous skippers have suffered or will the media and fans yet again account for downfall of yet another Indian skipper. A tough few months lie ahead of ‘MSD’ and his brigade to win back the faith of his country.
When it comes to the captains of India, the story is sorrier, as every new appointee for the top job, is expected to change the scenario of Indian cricket. He is expected to turn the team into overnight world-beaters and an invincible forceaand if the prospects are not achieved, the fans and media call for the immediate sacking of the skipper, without even analyzing with reason. There is a notable adage- “The team is as good as its Captain”, which means an outfit can only do well if it has an competent leader to guide them, and this is only possible if the post of the skipper is stable for a long time.
It’s very apparent that the Australian team has done tremendously well under just two captains (Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting) in the past 12 years. Even for the Proteas, it has been Graeme Smith who has been leading them successfully since 2003. Whereas, for India, there have been four captains in the past decade. What’s the reason for such instability? The answer is the eternal pressure of the hyper expectations from the people and media of our country.
Let’s take the case of Sachin Tendulkar, who was appointed the captain of India for the first time in the late 90s. His tenure began well as he led the country to victories in the Titan Cup and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Everybody went ga-ga about Tendulkar’s leadership qualities within just one year, but soon the problems started creeping in with India losing consistently during the 1997-98 season under the same man. The media started claiming that the ‘master-blaster’ cannot handle the pressure of captaincy and as a consequence, both team India and his batting are suffering. Eventually, Sachin succumbed to the criticism and resigned as the skipper of the team in early part of 1999. He was appointed again for the task in 2000, but his second stint was ever shorter as the similar story continued.
Then came Sourav Ganguly, the man who was tagged as the fiery leader that India always needed. The fans and media saw him as an aggressive character that budded plenty of young guns into future stars. Under ‘Dada’, India achieved tremendous feats like entering the final of World Cup, beating Pakistan in ODI as well as Test series and winning the Natwest Trophy in 2002. But as soon as his personal form started dripping, the media latched on to the opportunity to stain his reputation. Ganguly became a star more for his off-field antics, as he was badly publicized for his rift with Coach Greg Chappel, and his attitude in the dressing room was also questioned. As a result, Sourav was sacked as captain and then chucked out of the team.
His successor Rahul Dravid was also welcomed to the captaincy task like the previous possessors by the whole country. Everybody believed that it was Dravid’s cool, calm and collective attitude, which was required for the Indian team to develop into a strong unit. The ‘Men in Blue’ were marked as contenders for the World Cup in Caribbean, but a humiliating exit in the Group Stage made things worse. Dravid became the villain of the country and then some disconsolate events occurred as players’ effigies were burnt and their families were attacked too. ‘The Wall’ finally crumbled under imperativeness and resigned after the England tour in 2007.
MS Dhoni then took over the reigns and commenced a new chapter in the history of Indian cricket. He was an instant hit as he clinched the T20 World Cup for India, won ODI as well as Test series abroad. He represented the new-look Indian team which was fearless and capable. Terms like the ‘Smiling Assassin’, the ‘Golden Boy of Cricket’, ‘Master-tactician’, ‘Man with the Midas touch’ were associated with Dhoni in less than two years of his captaincy stint. But as one can imagine with the Indian fans, the picture has turned around after India’s shock exit from the 2009 WT20 in England.
The current Indian skipper’s ‘Mr. Perfect’ image has come under severe criticism after the defending champions failed to win a single match in the Super Eight stages and were knocked out the tournament in a poor manner. Soon errors were detected in Dhoni’s captaincy and tactics, which weren’t visible before. Cricket historians and experts who were all praise for Mahi’s captainship skills a few months back, started blaming him entirely for the loss. Perhaps the most pathetic scenes were the burning of Dhoni’s images by the zealous fans in his hometown of Ranchi. Does any captain have to pay such a big price for a loss in a tournament? I guess only Indian skippers have to suffer such things. It’s the pressure from the media which besets any Indian captain the most. The likes of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid have knuckled under it and maybe Dhoni is feeling the heat too. His tussle with the Journalist section began when he skipped the Padma Shri Awards function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was highlighted as a person who loves shooting ads, money and fame more than his country. The rumours of his conflict with Sehwag were blown out of proportion and Dhoni’s counteract of lining up the whole Indian team at the press conference as a show of unity came under heavy criticism.
Even at the WT20 post-match press conferences, Dhoni seemed baffled as he contradicted his statements. After the loss to South Africa, the Indian skipper stated that fatigue was one of the factors for their poor performance in the tournament. But in his latest press release, he rubbished the fact and blamed the poor batting display for the World Cup exit.
It’s very apparent that Dhoni is feeling the weight of the captaincy burden. It would be interesting to see if he can avoid the disastrous fate that the previous skippers have suffered or will the media and fans yet again account for downfall of yet another Indian skipper. A tough few months lie ahead of ‘MSD’ and his brigade to win back the faith of his country.
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