The Dhoni Effect

Ok, I like this guy. I dont love him, I like him. I like the way he stays icy cool during pressure situations, both as a batsman and as a captain.But hang on, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna???? India's highest sporting honour? And I say sporting, not cricketing. Only Sachin Tendulkar has won it (deservingly ) so far. Surely, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble are much more appropriate candidates. Yes, Dhoni's time will come, but he has just started his career and has a good 10 years left in him.

Anil Kumble is (undisputed) India's biggest match winner so far. The innumerable times he won us test matches on a crumbling 4th or 5th day pitch gave us the aura of invincibility at home. I will never forget the sight of Kumble,with his jaw fractured, strapped up and bowling to Lara. And yes, he got him too in the end.

Rahul Dravid. The man who stood up to be counted whe the composition of the side was in chaos. Who donned the wicketkeeping gloves for India and solved captain Saurav Ganguly's dilemma, allowing him to play 7 batsmen, and thus winning many a game. Dravid changed his game dramatically to suit the ODI format, and was the best finisher for a period of 2 years. His record in Tests remains impeccable. At a time during 2004-2005, hje was going at a rate that would have been a threat to the records of the peerless Tendulkar.

The justification given for Dhonis award, was his role in winning the T20 World Cup, and the Australia Tri Series. I still maintain, that giving the final over to Joginder Sharma was a huge mistake, and rather than we winning the World Cup, Pakistan ( or rather, Misbah ul Haq ) lost it.

The Australia Tri Series? Only one man , Sachin Tendulkar, stood rock solid between India and defeat.

And under the same Dhoni's leadership, India has recently lost two tri series finals, both very embarrassingly.

But the fact remains that Dhoni has taken the whole country by storm and the "Dhoni Effect" has lead to clouded thinking, idol worship and immunity from bad press.

But Dhoni's destiny seems to have decided its own course. As he himself has said in an TV advert,
" Honi ho gayi anhoni, aur main ban gaya Dhoni ".