• 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.

... contd.