Has Virat's fine hand in captaincy stymied Dhoni’s leadership skills?

Mumbai: One over to go, eleven runs to win and MS Dhoni in the middle. Immaterial who the opposition and what the calendar year it was, most, if not all, would have picked Dhoni and India to come on top. The scenario was different as South Africa, despite one of the flawless hundreds from Rohit Sharma, went on to seal five-run win in Kanpur on Sunday.

“I have three dogs at home. Even after losing a series or winning a series, they treat me the same way,” MS Dhoni had said once.

While there is no way to confirm how his dogs treat him back home, what Dhoni said about his dogs is apt for how the man in question treats wins and losses on the cricket field.

For Dhoni winning has always mattered. However, he continues to enjoy the process rather than solely focusing on the outcome. No surprise he manages to hold his own in some of the adverse or favourable situations or as his best friend Suresh Raina, during a TV show, said, “Dhoni bhaiya yahee level par rehte hai” discussing Dhoni’s balance.

That trait of Dhoni was evident during his post-match conference on Sunday.

Read: When you bat down the order, you have to take blame, says MS Dhoni

“When you bat down the order you have to take the blame especially because of the fact that when you finish many games, people always remember the ones you have not finished. One was, of course, the England one, this is another one and one I remember we were playing Sri Lanka at Rajkot that was a few years back," Dhoni said.

Logical and practical as it sounds, cricket experts and fans (at least some of them), unlike before, seem to be reluctant to buy into Dhoni’s argument. While Sunday’s loss was a trigger, the calls for relieving Dhoni from captaincy have grown louder after India’s post 2015 World Cup performance in coloured clothing.

Read: ‘If MS Dhoni doesn’t perform, selectors will have to think'

As the criticism is getting louder with each passing day, what’s driving cricket fans and experts to be critical of Dhoni would define the enormity of what’s dished out at him.

Purely by numbers:

Is the criticism an outcome of Dhoni and the team’s slump in coloured clothing?

Although India could not defend their World Cup title, 34-year-old Dhoni led the side till the semifinals of the tournament. However, his batting form had taken a dip. Statistically speaking, Dhoni’s batting average in ODIs in 2015 is almost 14 runs less when compared to his career batting average of 52.11.

Although he had only played four ODIs post the World Cup, he could not lead the side to a series win in Bangladesh followed by T20 series defeat against South Africa at home.

Our inability to adjust:

While he announced his arrival smashing 142 and 183 against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Dhoni was quick to take up the role of an accumulator and cool finisher. More importantly, he was equally successful in the same.

Although we need not judge them in the same vein, Dhoni provided the generation of cricket fans, who once switched off the TV sets after Sachin Tendulkar’s dismissal, a confidence that India can still win the matches if he is around.

The scenario has been a tad different for last 12 months or so. While he managed to take India to victories, the frequency has gone down. And as he is struggling, so are we to come to terms with that fact. For we, the last few years were so attuned to seeing him sealing India’s victories in challenging circumstances. The transformation, as it is currently with Dhoni, is difficult for fans as well.

Virat Kohli’s rising stock as captain:

Kohli was always viewed as a captain and he never denied the fact how much he would love to lead an Indian side. While he led the team whenever Dhoni was rested from ODIs, following the latter’s retirement from Test cricket in December last year; Kohli was the natural choice to lead India.

Although he lost two games as skipper in his relatively fresh stint as Test skipper, he drove India to their first ever series win in Sri Lanka after 22 years. In doing so, he also registered India’s first away series win since 2011. Although his batting form has dipped a bit, his stock as skipper has grown.

This has coincided with India’s patchy form under Dhoni’s leadership following the World Cup 2015.

Although vulnerable than ever before, the sample size to judge Dhoni- the skipper- post World Cup 2015 has been small. More importantly, it is a bit premature to term his recent indifferent form as skipper and batsman as to Dhoni closing in on his sell-by-date.

Or to put it in his own words, “Till the full stop does not come, the sentence is not complete.”