Eye on India: MS Dhoni puts team above own interests with his timing to step down as captain

Few would recognise the Zimbabwe-born Ryan Watson if they passed him in the street. But he has a special place in Indian cricket lore.

On September 13, 2007, it was Watson who won the toss for Scotland against India in a World Twenty20 match at Kingsmead in Durban. The man who called wrong that night was leading India for the first time. The players did not even get on the field because of rain.

But over the next two weeks, MS Dhoni would lead a motley crew of experienced hands and young hopefuls to success.

It was a reflection of the suspicion with which the Indian cricket board viewed Twenty20 cricket that the big boys — Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan — stayed away. But by the time Misbah-ul-Haq scooped Joginder Sharma into Sreesanth’s hands at short fine-leg, the most populous cricket nation was utterly in thrall to the new format.

Over the decade that followed, Dhoni would lead India in 72 Twenty20 internationals, 199 one-day internationals and 60 Tests.

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Under his leadership, India were the No 1-ranked Test side in the world for 18 months. He won the World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013. Over the past six ICC events, dating back to 2011, only once did India fail to reach at least the semi-finals. No other nation came close to matching that consistency.

But for all his achievements, Dhoni never enjoyed the kind of adulation reserved for Sachin Tendulkar and, now, Virat Kohli. The majority of fans love him, but the media that once anointed him “Captain Cool” turned against him in the final years of his captaincy tenure.

That was not just because the team lost more. Dhoni, whose news conferences could be both droll and infuriating, refused to play the media’s game.

He was not interested in granting fluff interviews, or hyping up contests. He never conformed to any broadcast narrative. And he never forgot the hysterical coverage of the 2007 World Cup exit which had led to his under-construction house in Ranchi being attacked by irate so-called supporters.

Until April 2011, when the most famous six in the game’s history sealed India’s World Cup triumph, Dhoni the leader led a charmed life.

Later that summer, the team journeyed to England. The wheels did not just come off, they rolled half a mile down the road. The 4-0 thrashing was followed at the turn of the year by a similar trouncing in Australia.

There was little Dhoni could have done to stop either result. Zaheer’s best years were behind him, Sreesanth’s eccentricities and other less desirable qualities were catching up with him, and the famed batting line-up had grown old together.

Had Dhoni been a selfish man, he could have protected what was left of his legacy and resigned, leaving a younger man to carry the can. Instead, he waited until the tour of Australia in 2014/15, when shoots of revival were evident, to give up the Test captaincy.

There was no stirring speech or tears in front of the cameras. Instead, there was an email from the board a few hours after the Boxing Day Test had been drawn. He deprived the media of the extended farewell spreads again earlier this week.

Kohli has now led the Test side for two years, and registered a sequence of results unmatched in India’s cricket history. With 30 months to go for the 2019 World Cup, the timing of the transition is perfect.

It gives Dhoni the opportunity to find out if he can reprise the power-hitting of old without the cares of leadership to hold him back.

After the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Nagpur earlier this week — he had flown down in a chartered jet to encourage his Jharkhand statemates — he spent more than an hour in the middle, launching sixes into the stands.

Kohli and the others he led with such distinction for nearly a decade will hope that he is in that sort of mood when he returns to the ranks.

End is nigh for the great football clubs of Kolkata

Mohun Bagan, India’s most storied football club, was formed in 1889 — three years before Liverpool. Their biggest rivals, East Bengal, hope to celebrate their centenary in 2020.

Given such a tradition, especially in Kolkata, Indian football’s first city, it is surprising Indian clubs have never made a dent at continental level.

For decades, the size of the country and a socialist economy meant there was no national league. Most states had their own leagues, and the Durand Cup — first played in 1888 — and others such as the Rovers Cup and Federation Cup served as knockout competitions that brought the country’s leading clubs together.

The National Football League came into being only in 1996. After it failed to ignite genuine interest across the country, the I-League took its place in 2006. But with most matches attracting mere hundreds of fans, the expected take-off never happened.

The Indian Super League (ISL) then arrived on the scene in 2014, attracting the kind of TV audience and sponsors that the I-League had never managed. Having just finished its third season, the ISL is now clearly the premier product. With a unification of the two leagues imminent, the I-League kicked off its new season on January 7.

The most notable absentees were Dempo Sports Club, five-time champions over the past two decades. Convinced that the I-League could not offer its constituents a bright future, they, along with Salgaocar, another famous old club, and Sporting Clube de Goa, withdrew.

Bagan and East Bengal were both in action, though it is likely that one of them will have to merge with Atletico de Kolkata of the ISL when the amalgamation happens. Bengaluru FC, the defending champions who also reached the AFC Cup final in 2016, should get direct entry into the ISL given that the city is not represented in the league.

For now though, such thoughts are a few months away. There is still a league to win, no matter how low-profile it is.

Under the stewardship of Albert Roca, once Frank Rijkaard’s assistant at Barcelona, Bengaluru start favourites, but both Kolkata giants will hope to exit the league on a high.

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