MSD may have to share captaincy

MSD may have to share captaincy

    The last time England won a Test series in India, present England skipper Alastair Cook was barely a month old. On Monday, Cook proudly led his team to a historic victory, even as Indian captain M S Dhoni stoically contemplated yet another debacle.
    Dhoni’s supporters may believe that he bought himself some more time by scoring 99, but there is a growing body of opinion that it may be time to split the captaincy. Legendary former captain Sunil Gavaskar on Monday batted for Virat Kohli as Test captain while some sections of the India cricket board are said to favour Gautam Gambhir.
    In a sense, Dhoni can consider himself fortunate to be leading India in this era. Back in the 1970s, Ajit Wadekar won India three Test series in a row; including two historic away triumphs against England and West Indies. But one 0-3 loss against England in 1974 and he was gone. From Bishen Singh Bedi to Kapil Dev to Sunil Gavaskar, nobody has been given a longer rope as Indian skipper than Dhoni.
    Dhoni has led India to 0-4 drubbings in Australia and England—and survived. Hard-won victories against lowly ranked teams like New Zealand and West Indies were allowed to lull India into a sense of complacency.
DID DHONI'S BLUNDERS COST INDIA DEAR?
1 Insisted on spin track, backed Ashwin and Ojha alone
2 Played 4 spinners in Nagpur at the cost of a pacer
3 Stuck to bowling team despite failures
4 Underbowled Harbhajan Singh
5 Didn't lead from the front 6 Team split wide open
7 Took on curators 8 Lost attacking instinct
WITH A STRAIGHT BAT Sunil Gavaskar's Takes On captaincy | I think Virat (Kohli) is ready to take on the mantle from Dhoni
On coach Duncan Fletcher | Under the present coach and support staff, the football skills of the players have got better, but the same can't be said of their cricketing skills
On Sachin | In the Nagpur Test he looked just a bit lost. Maybe that's the sign. I think he will reassess his future before the Australia series