Time to call stumps on Dhoni’s Test captaincy?

As the second Test between New Zealand and India concluded in a draw and the series to a Black Caps victory, all eyes were on Brendon McCullum’s marvellous triple century (302 off 559 balls) – the first by a Black Cap in Test history.

This was especially due to the manner in which it came. New Zealand was 52 for three in their second innings when McCullum got to the crease, still trailing by 194 and staring at an innings defeat.

McCullum’s innings was almost chance-less, barring a simple dropped catch at short mid on by Virat Kohli early in his innings, and will be talked about for generations considering it was a game that his side should have lost.

However, despite the deserved accolades for McCullum, little focus has been directed at the poor performance of Indian captain MS Dhoni.

Under MS Dhoni, India has lost 10 and drawn four of their last 14 Tests away from home. Their last victory away from home was against the West Indies in Kingston in June 2011. The 10 losses include four-nil whitewashes in England and Australia in the season of 2011/12.

Excuses were made four the whitewashes in England and Australia, from the pitches being doctored to assist the home teams, to the ageing squad which Dhoni had been given. Very few times has his captaincy been questioned due to his conquests at home and in the limited overs formats.

Former Indian wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani has defended Dhoni’s leadership, saying that “it does not matter whether its four losses or five. Every team goes through it. Every individual goes through bad form…you can’t be criticising a man who has done great things for the country”.

While Dhoni has done well in global tournaments and Tests at home, these “four or five losses” that Kirmani speaks of have come over a course of three years with two completely different squads.

After a certain point form is not the issue but leadership is.

The fact of the matter is that Dhoni is as defensive a captain in Tests as he is dynamic in ODIs and T20s.

His modus operandi is to dry up the runs and hope that the lowering of the run rate will pick up wickets.

While this may work in the limited overs formats, and at home where his spinners are offered assistance by the surfaces, it has yet to work away from home. Dhoni’s reluctance to back his bowlers is a major concern, which leads to his defensive tendencies.

In the last four away series, Dhoni has often spread the field and alleviating the batsmen of any pressure that was previously built by his bowlers.

This tactic has often led an established batsman scoring crucial runs with the tail to bat India out of many winning positions.

Dhoni was especially guilty of this during the dismal tour of Australia in 2011/12 and more crucially, in the just concluded second Test against New Zealand when his team was in a position to win the match by an innings to go on and draw chasing 435 for an impossible victory.

Dhoni’s inability or unwillingness to change his style of captaincy in the Test format away from home will continue to haunt Indian cricket in what is a tough year ahead with five Tests against England and four against Australia.

The man who plays and keeps in all three formats, as well as for his IPL side, hinted in the disastrous tour of Australia three years ago that by 2013 he may drop a format to concentrate on India’s 50 over World Cup defence.

It is now 2014, and he must make a call soon, otherwise it will hinder the strong transition the young team has made from the shadow of past superstars.

Many of Dhoni’s contemporaries have either shed the gloves, or the captaincy tag in one or more formats to prolong their careers.

McCullum has had to do it, as well as Kumar Sangakarra for Sri Lanka.

India are not ready to lose Dhoni as a leader in the short forms, or as a keeper-batsman in Tests, but it seems they are ready for a change in leadership.

With Virat Kohli waiting in the wings, and has been a solid member of the squad for three years now, and captaincy experience at the domestic and under 19 level, he is the ideal candidate to blood in the Test format sooner rather than later.

Kohli may be able to provide the intensity and aggression in India’s Test team away from home that hasn’t been seen since the days that Saurav Ganguly led the Indian outfit.