Most of us would have heard by now that Rahul Dravid has stepped down as Indian captain with immediate effect. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhMJe_VW8ao) Is this good or bad ? Personally I am happy with the decision. I have my own reasons which readers may not agree with but I am gonna justify them as much as possible.Dravid is a phenomenal batsman, an excellent observer and learner of the game, he has a very good head on his shoulders and can think out of the box at times. Having said all this one would say what more do you want in a captain? Well the answer is quite simple personality. Some people are made to lead and others learn how to do so. Unfortunately, Dravid didn't fit in any of those slots.
A leader need not be an ace at all departments of the game but should have the intellect to come up with strategies depending on situations at hand. Knowledge can take you only so far, the rest of the distance one has to cover by taking calculated risks. A captain should be willing to make tough decisions, back his instincts and be prepared to face music if those instincts go awry.
One of my favorite captains has been Steven Waugh. He had a perfect personality to be a leader, didn't have a batting average of 40+ in ODIs nor was highest run getter in Tests (he did improve on consistency after he became Aussie captain). He had the guts to take risks, to back
his belief in a players ability. He would throw the ball to his bowler, someone like Brett Lee, and say "go ahead and show them you have the speed, don't worry about how many runs you give away, coz I got McGrath and Warne to do containing job, I want you to break oppositions confidence, limbs, teeth, whatever". Now that I love in a captain. Do you think Dravid would ever do that ? In fact under him India lost one of their greatest finds of this decade, Irfan Pathan. To me, India discovered an amazing allrounder in Pathan in early 2001, on tour to Pakistan where India won their first away series in over 30 years. However, Dravid and to a large extent Greg Chappel demolished the confidence in this young allrounder for India.I was never fond of Dravid's on field presence. He never attempted to put any pressure on the opposition nor demanded 100+% from his team. He expected people to step up and do their job to the best of their abilities and let the results follow. Well, I'd say, that's Text-Book stuff, doesn't really work in the real world. As a leader your goal always should be to win the match under any condition, for this you have to grab the bull by the horn and take the battle to the opposition, not sit around and wait for opposition to make mistakes.
A classic justification for what I say was given but Dravid during the 3rd test at Oval of recently concluded India-England test series. Having got England on the mat India should have enforced follow-on and taken the series 2-0, rather Dravid didn't want to take any chance and go home with 1-0 win. This is good for the record books but not good for a team who wants to get into a winning habit. You tell them win some and tell them to draw some, no no no no .... I am not impressed Mr. Dravid.
Who is the successor ??
Well having debated the not so good aspects of Dravid's captaincy, who would be the best choice for India to succeed him. The names doing rounds in News these days are Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Ganguly in that order.
I am frankly not impressed by this, my choice of India's new captain is Yuvraj Singh, but here is
what works against him. With India persisting with Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly and Laxman in their test team for now, Yuvraj Singh is not able to find a deserving spot in the team. So, fall back is going to be Sachin Tendulkar/ MS Dhoni. Under the circumstances I think the captaincy should go to Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni should be made the vice. One-day captaincy should undoubtedly go to Yuvraj Singh and again MS Dhoni be made the vice.Yuvraj and Dhoni have the enthusiasm, aggression, ability and hunger to take India to World #1 spot as ODI team. Sachin's experience and Dhoni's fresh ideas could pave way for stable Indian test team.
Again these are my thought and I would love to hear yours .... so feel free to express your self here at Cricspeak.
