World T20 victory would be Dhoni's greatest achievement

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  • MS Dhoni captained a weakened India side to World T20 glory in 2007.

    India’s victory in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in 2007 is part of cricket lore now. It not only pitchforked Mahendra Singh Dhoni into superstardom and the captaincy, but also redefined the future of the sport.

    What followed soon after was the spectacularly successful Indian Premier League that changed the power matrix in cricket. The BCCI became the financial powerhouse, with all the other Boards having to play second fiddle or worse.

    The IPL’s appeal was global, causing an explosion of spectator and sponsor interest in the T20 format that has since continued to grow, what with several other domestic leagues coming up in different countries.

    This has not been entirely to everybody’s satisfaction, nor indeed very clean, as repeated controversies in the IPL and other leagues over the years have shown. But that does not obscure the transformational impact of India’s win in the 2007 T20 WC.

    However, not many may be familiar with the fact that the road to glory for India in that inaugural tournament was strewn with hurdles – all self-created by the country’s cricket establishment.

    The BCCI was for some reason antipathetic to the T20 format from the start and the last to agree to play the WC. How half-hearted the Board’s approach then was became evident from the fact that several of the major players skipped the tournament.

    Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan were among those who skipped the tournament. True the T20 WC came almost immediately after a grueling tour of England, but the BCCI too did not put any pressure on these players to participate.

    In fact when I asked a senior pro in the England team whether he would be playing the T20 tournament, his reply was that “Mickey Mouse cricket is not my fancy” or words to the effect!

    In the event, the Indian selectors picked Dhoni as captain, and the rest as they say is history.

    I am recounting this in some detail to give a perspective to the latest edition of the T20 WC that starts in early March. So much has changed in the past nine years: in the sport, in Indian cricket perhaps more starkly, and certainly most dramatically for Dhoni.

    Unlike in 2007, India will start favourites this time. The current form of the players combined with the fact that there will be the advantage of playing in home conditions makes this assessment fair.

    But as Dhoni will remember from his 2007 experience – and no doubt tell impress on his teammates – that the vicissitudes of T20 cricket actually make any assessment utterly meaningless as subsequent tournament have shown.

    For instance, no side has won the T20 WC twice. There has been a new winner every time, and without any co-relation to that team’s standing in the other formats.

    To drive home this point, the West Indies – currently ranked no 8 in Test cricket — were number 1 in T20s till they were toppled by India after the clean sweep by Dhoni & Co over Australia recently.

    Indeed, the brief history of T20 is replete with upset results, making matches in this format akin to a lottery. This is simply because the shorter the format, the more level the playing field between teams.

    Given the mercurial, topsy-turvy nature of the format, to go strictly by rankings, therefore, would be hazardous. I would say that India look to be the first among equals and no more.

    The composition of a team and current form of players of course makes a difference. This is where India have been the most impressive of all sides in the past few months.

    The batting is hugely talented and in crackling form. In home conditions, it should be even more dangerous. A preponderance of all-rounders (for this format certainly), adds to the batting depth and heft.

    However, it is the variety in the bowling attack and its recent success in different conditions and different teams which could be said to be a bigger factor in India’s present dominance.

    India’s batting has always been powerful, it was the bowling which was usually the let-down. Dhoni now has at his command four pacemen and four spinners to choose from, all wicket-takers and particularly effective in Indian conditions.

    What I like about the squad is the fine balance between youth and experience that the selectors have struck. There are some veterans, some newbies while a fair number are is of the same age group and have played with each other since their under-19 days.

    The inclusion of `oldies’ Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh did not find favour with some critics, but could actually turn out to be a masterstroke.

    All three were picked on form in domestic cricket and not nostalgia. And as recent trends have shown, T20 is not only about youthful energy, but also guile and strong nerves, in which experience is invaluable.

    Nehra has done enough already to prove that he would be an asset. Yuvraj is still struggling a bit with his batting rhythm, but has picked up wickets regularly to make justify his presence in the squad.

    Only Harbhajan, who hasn’t got a match as yet this season, remains untested as it were. But it must not be forgotten that he has been among the leading spinners in the world for a long time.

    The onus will be heavy on these senior pros to deliver, but no less on those younger and the freshers in the team. But doubtless it will be the greatest on captain Dhoni.

    He’s had a dazzling career, littered with milestones and records that will take some beating. A victory in this edition of the T20 WC would, in a sense, complete the circle that began in 2007.

    It might also give his career a second wind.

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