Opinion Mettle detector

Arrogant,brash,disconnected from reality,he’s gone and lost India the World T20 championship by fighting with his team mates,taking digs at the media,scoring nothing off his own bat,and promoting greenhorns to critical positions in must-win matches.

It is incredible how strongly India feels about its cricketing heroes,the passion behind each argument fierce and unwavering. This week,for the first time in his dream career,the guns have been trained on Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The media seems determined to make up for all the praise showered on him in the last five years as an international cricketer,and last two as skipper,even asking if he “looked sorry enough” when he was apologising to fans after the World T20 exit. “Please SMS your opinion…”

His captaincy has been dissected,his mistakes magnified,his effigies burnt (it sounds like a pretty good job in India,making effigies — income guaranteed,even in times of recession). Not because we enjoy parading on the streets with banners and torches but because our national pride (which,62 years after independence,rides on which side of a three-run result we finish on) has been hurt.

Here’s a quick dossier on how Dhoni wounded our dignity over the last 20 months:

• Became captain of a team no one wanted to lead

• Went to the T20 World Cup in South Africa with a group of no-hopers and returned with the trophy

• Led India to their first-ever one-day series win in Australia

• Beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka,twice

• Defeated Australia in a home Test series

• Crushed England at home

• Won the Test and one-day series in New Zealand

• Scored at an average of 60 in Tests and 57.81 in one-dayers as skipper

If there is a positive trend in those little factoids,it must be completely disregarded because a) we don’t live in the past,and b) he appeared in advertisements and made pots of money.

Okay,shedding the sarcasm,Dhoni himself sounded the most prudent call before the South Africa match when he said India is an “emotional country” where neither adulation nor criticism can be taken too seriously.

But the next few weeks will be incredibly challenging for the 27-year-old from Ranchi. During any analysis or argument about Dhoni’s captaincy in the past,I’ve always held that his true test as a leader would come once he started getting the rough end of the stick.

For any Indian skipper,it’s inevitable that the fans and the press will go against him one day. He can’t keep winning all the time,and in every defeat the real issues behind the failure — in this case the IPL,fatigue,lack of preparation — get brushed aside in favour of a public trial in which the prosecution wants heads to roll.

The cricketers are deemed greedy,the management incapable,and the call is always for rebuilding the team.

Dhoni’s disadvantage is that while players usually go through such ups and downs even before they get the captain’s job,he has lived a charmed life in which questions have never been asked. As a batsman,he’s seamlessly changed gears right from the time he announced his arrival by scoring a blistering 148 against Pakistan in Visakhapatnam. As a captain,he’s backed his players,battled the selectors,given it back to the opposition with strokes of sudden genius,taken hard decisions about the seniors,and referred to India as “my team” without a hint of insecurity.

How he reacts now,with fingers pointed in his direction,will determine his true character. This T20 defeat is a defining moment in his reign as captain,a watershed of sorts that will provide the first sign of how Dhoni will be remembered in history — as a captain who had a great run while it lasted,or as a leader who taught India to win not just the odd match overseas but to capture series after series irrespective of opposition and location.

It has begun,indeed. Will Dhoni be able to dictate how it ends?

kunal.pradhan@expressindia.com