The Indian Test captain
It seems crazy to me that India have gone for Anil Kumble as Test captain, and it is even crazier that it is public knowledge that Tendulkar was asked first and turned it down! Kumble himself is an awesome professional and I'm sure he'll do a decent job, but the way the BCCI came to their decision was wrong and the end decision is wrong (irrespective of whether Kumble plays for 2 years and wins every game!).
First announcements on who was going to be captain had to be put back, then it became public that Tendulkar didn't want it, then the announcement was put back again, and then the announcement came (several hours late) and it was Kumble. The reason I think this is wrong is that India have a problem with a number of players likely to retire at similar times and Kumble is one of them. It was important that the captain wasn't in that group, to ensure a decent transition, even if an experienced vice-captain was required.
While I've seen all but nothing of Dhoni's captaincy, his attacking instincts in the Twenty20 appealed to me, and I hope his confidence doesn't get knocked by the way this has been handled - the selectors seem to be saying they'd rather have anyone but him to captain the Tests!
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2 comments:
Sorry Ed, I have to disagree with you here. I think this was the correct decision. I think India have to be very careful about overloading such an important player as Dhoni. He is the ODI captain, wicketkeeper and is also expected to continue scoring runs in both forms. I think Dhoni is the man to lead India in tests in the future, but adding this extra responsibility now may be too much for him, particularly when you consider India's next two assignments are Pakistan away, and Australia away, by far the two most pressurised series for India. I take your point about needing a smooth transition when the senior players retire, but this is also precisely why you don't want to burn out Dhoni. When these guys go, India will need Dhoni firing on all cylinders.
Well I guess there are arguments both ways.... I didn't realise that they had Australia away after Pakistan - there isn't a potential captain in the world that wants that series so perhaps Dhoni hasn't done too badly out of it. Having said that Kumble has only been given the captaincy for 3 games so Dhoni may still have to lead the Aussie tour....
Dhoni is 26 - is it too much for him to keep wicket and captain in both forms of the game full stop, or is it his age/inexperience that is worrying? If it's the former, the workload's never going to change, if it's the latter - how much experience does he need?
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