Sometimes external forces create a unique environment where the most unheralded individual rises to the occasion and etches his name in the history books.
And sometimes, despite the most epic of failures, the ringleader of the debacle can’t be brought to book due to the workings of similar forces.
One is forced to get into such a surreal world as simple logic fails to explain why Mahendra Singh Dhoni is still the captain of the Indian team, at least the Test side, and also why it looks like he will continue to be the leader.
The Indian Test team has gone beyond the realms of pure results. It has acquired a taste to surprise its followers with new and innovative ways of surrendering. The 3-1 series win by England took subjugation to a new level.
The bowlers lack bite, the batsmen have forgotten which side of the bat to hold and the fielding makes for tragic viewing.
Among all this chaos, the one man who should have had the rug pulled from under his feet has surprisingly landed on stable ground.
Dhoni is still India’s most experienced player and given how young the rest of the squad is, no one in the BCCI will be keen to take him to task. In fact, things are so bad India need Dhoni, no matter how poor his leadership is. Mind you, he batted well in England.
The next man in line for the captaincy role is Virat Kohli. The Delhi batsman came into the series as one of the best players among the new generation. One series and he got the wind knocked out of his sails.
Forget captaincy, Kohli will be fighting tooth and nail to hold on to his position at the top of the order. So that means there is no one to replace Dhoni as captain.
And thirdly, the 50 over World Cup will be held in Australia and New Zealand in February next year. With almost everything going wrong with the Indian team, the BCCI cannot afford to put their ‘biggest’ player under any more pressure than he already is. If Dhoni goes, it might all fall apart (whatever is left of the team, that is).
So despite the way things are, maintaining status quo seems the best option as far as the squad and its leader are concerned. The support staff structure has already seen quite an upheaval. So that should result in some fresh impetus. It’s not much but the Indians will clutch at any straw right now.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar has already asked the Indian fans to be ready for another round of humiliation when the team travels to Australia and faces the likes of Mitchell Johnson and David Warner at the end of the year in a full tour ahead of their World Cup campaign.
And once that storm blows over, Indian cricket can pick up the pieces and do what needs to be done.
Till then, just go with the flow.
