So far, the man appointed to follow him is doing an excellent job. There is much to like about Dhoni as a person and as a cricketer. He seems to have a balanced head on his strong shoulders and seems quite capable of sizing up situations. It helps to have young legs and unfettered minds in the team and under him, India have surprised many at the Twenty20 world cup. They have played with passion, with calm minds and have won a crucial cricket match with a catch, a run-out and runs saved in the field. You wouldn’t have thought that was possible three weeks ago when fielders strolled in the deep and lobbed returns in.

This is a young man’s game for age, and occasionally, experience, tend to install boundaries in a world of possibilities. Rohit Sharma doesn’t yet know what he cannot do and so plays by sheer instinct. For Robin Uthappa, life is still an adventure where you stumble only to dust yourself and move on. Dinesh Kaarthick’s fidgety reflexes allow him to reach cricket balls that many won’t even as they make him drop sitters that others won’t! And RP Singh is on this wonderful tour of discovery, becoming, and making us, aware of his great skills.

Thursday’s win over South Africa was one of Indian cricket’s better days. And a phenomenal commercial for Twenty20 cricket. India should have been rocked by the withdrawal of a champion batsman, but the captain let him sit out and didn’t bother persuading him to play.

... contd.