Dhoni survives despite successive Test whitewashes

No captain could hope to survive as debilitating successive losses as MS Dhoni has done in England and Australia in a span of nine months and yet, if anything, emerge stronger.

Dhoni has lost seven successive overseas Tests in which four losses have been by an innings, one by over 300 runs, and the remaining two by 196 and 122 runs.

His own form with the bat has hardly been the redeeming feature. In England, it was 220 runs from eight innings at 31.43 and in Australia, it was 102 runs at 20.42 from three Tests and six innings.

Technically, the ignominy of 'whitewash' in Australia was shared between him and Virender Sehwag who filled up for him in Adelaide due to a ban on account of slow over-rates. It's difficult to foresee though if the result would have been any different had Dhoni been around.

Yet Indian cricket's strongman continues to flourish - - mainly due to his past achievements which include two World Cup titles and numerous firsts, including a one-day series won in Australia, and to a lesser extent because no real successor is at hands to replace him at the helm.

When Mohammed Azharuddin lost his captaincy in the summer of 1996, due to series loss in England, Sachin Tendulkar was at hand to be bestowed the honour and not an eyebrow was raised.

Sourav Ganguly's magnificent achievements abroad mattered little when coach Greg Chappell crossed his path in 2005 and prevailed.

Kapil Dev lost his captaincy most abruptly after India lost in the semi-finals of the 1987 World Cup in India. His predecessor Sunny Gavaskar lost his own after a debilitating 3-0 series loss in Pakistan in early 80s.

Internationally too, few captains have survived such humiliating losses. Ricky Ponting stepped down from captaincy after Australia lost the 2011 World Cup having won the two previous editions under his leadership. Ponting himself got the one-day leadership in early 2000 at the expense of Steve Waugh who was the man-mountain of Australian cricket at his peak.

... contd.

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