Just one match into this ODI series and India captain MS Dhoni already has bemoaned his country’s dearth of readymade talent, his squad’s lack of a pace-bowling all-rounder and the state of umpiring.
That’s a huge slab of negativity to unload in a short amount of time and smacks of a defeatist mentality from the beginning of what had shaped as a winnable five-game series for the tourists.
One of the greatest limited-overs players in history, Dhoni’s international career is now winding down and he is on shaky ground as captain, with growing calls from Indian pundits and fans for him to retire.
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Virat Kohli, the man who shapes as his successor in ODIs, has reinvigorated the Test team with his leadership, turning them into a more attacking outfit.
Kohli is a fiercely self-assured character – it is difficult to imagine him becoming mired in doom and gloom the way Dhoni has at the start of an away ODI series against the reigning world champions.
The 27-year-old batsman has garnered praise for his leadership, in particular the manner in which he has shown confidence in his charges.
It was crucial Dhoni displayed similar outward faith in his players ahead of this tough series against a team which has dominated India in the ODI format – they have won just six of their past 17 matches against Australia.
Instead, the day before the series opener, Dhoni whinged about the lack of “readymade talent” being produced by his country.
He followed that up with comments which must have crushed the confidence of rookie Rishi Dhawan, when Dhoni repeatedly lamented that India did not have a seam-bowling all-rounder worthy of playing in this series.
The 25-year-old Dhawan, who is in India’s ODI squad as a seam-bowling all-rounder, bats at four or five for Himachal Pradesh and also opens the bowling, averaging 39 with the bat and 31 with the ball.
Dhoni’s comments made it clear that he does not rate Dhawan, who is yet to represent India. It must be devastating for a young player on their first overseas tour to hear their captain stating publicly, albeit in an indirect manner, that he doesn’t think they are good enough for international cricket.
Of Dhoni’s three aforementioned gripes, his distaste for the Decision Review System makes the most sense. A long-time critic of the DRS, Dhoni reiterated his view in the wake of Australia’s comfortable victory in the series opener at the WACA.
India were unfortunate not to have dismissed centurion George Bailey for a duck after he gloved down the leg side the first ball he faced. Dhoni maintains that if the DRS is to be used it should be less confusing, particularly in regards to lbws.
It is a quirky element of the DRS that a delivery predicted by ball-tracking technology to be shaving the stumps can be given out, while another ball predicted to be striking a much greater portion of the stumps can be given not out.
As Dhoni stated to the media after the WACA match, the DRS “should not be the umpires’ decision justification system”.
“It should be giving the right decision,” he said. “Like in tennis you don’t say the umpire called it out and half the ball has to pitch inside the line. It has to be plain and simple.
“You don’t have to keep too many things in consideration. You either say, ‘This is DRS, doesn’t matter whether it is given out or not out, if half the ball is hitting the stumps, you are out’, irrespective of the decision.
“Now, for example, you take DRS, in an lbw decision, what changes everything is whether it was given in favour or not. It can mean a margin of one inch overall, and that is very big.”
There is logic in Dhoni’s argument. But there is none in the pessimistic way he has approached this series against Australia.
Kohli must be seething. It’s time for the young buck to take over and re-energise India’s limited-overs teams the way he has done with the Test side.
Bee bee
Guest
Oh please. Australia lose two in a row and the media are calling for half the team to be dropped. Yes our team is pure and utter perfection until it turns out they are not. All out for 60 recently and the team wreaked of a powerful stench of imperfection so bad a thousand cans of Shane Watson deodorant couldn't cover it up. Every team has the odd arrogant jerk. Except NZ, who apparently have taken up some weird form of niceness that will be thrown out the window as soon as its on like donkey kong in the up coming series.
Nick
Guest
You cannot have a situation where a decision is both out and not out depending on the original umpiring decision. This must change for the DRS to remain viable, this overuse of the "howler" reference is tiresome. That's NOT how it is used in reality and harking back to the lab pro type testing isn't helpful. It's allowing decisions to be both out or not out regardless of reality and that's ludicrous
Nick
Guest
Not a lesson you've taken to heart though is it?
Nick
Guest
Rubbish. If the technology isn't accurate enough to tell you with a degree of certainty where the ball will go then it's useless. It's ridiculous to suggest that a decision can be both out and not out depending on what an umpire has already decided (regardless of whether it's the 'correct' decision) You mention the convention of no disdain for an umpire..... Ok..... when did it become a convention of Schrodingers wicket?
Darren
Guest
Maggie my understanding is the predictive analytics takes into account all those things and many more I'm sure. But it is still a prediction so will have a margin for error. What is known is the track of the ball to the point where it hits something (pad, bat, body) from there it is predicting what will happen as this didn't occur. Base the decision on what the umpire saw and just use DRS to check if anything actually happened that would change that decision i.e. an edge, hit the player outside the line of the stumps or pitched outside the line of leg stump. Actually hitting the stumps - either line or height - can be left to the field umpire.
Chicly the boy
Guest
All teams have there issues, this particular commentator seems to focus on all countries that have trivial matters apart from Australia. To me it is a tad boring and transparent, to you obviously not!
Mining Man
Guest
Dhoni's opposition to DRS being predicated on it giving the umpire the benefit of the doubt is peculiar. The original implementation of DRS did not work this way, and yet Dhoni was still against it. I think Dhoni is just toeing the line, and is inclined to find fault with it even if it contradicts a previously held opinion. On the matter of a DRS reviewed dismissal being out, or not out, dependent on what the on-field umpire originally ruled it; this is precisely the way DRS is meant to work on an academic level. It is there only to reverse the howler. The difference between a correct decision and a howler has been determined to be half a ball width. For the grey area in between that is half a ball width wide, the outcome is not considered to be a howler and is therefore up to the on-field umpire. Another way of saying it, is that DRS doesn't provide reliable enough accuracy inside a half a ball width, to reverse a decision. This isn't a flaw. It's simple recognition of design tolerance within an engineered system. Not using DRS to reverse a howler, on the basis that the technology is imperfect because it has a grey area between correct and howler, is actually pretty dumb. The grey area decisions remain regardless of DRS or not. But you're accepting the howlers for what? Fun?
Don Freo
Guest
A very confused response. What are you actually saying?
Chicly the boy
Guest
Only a part time contributor but I obviously drew out the usual suspects. I can't believe they left Mitch marsh out of today's game and the general rotation can be a bit hard to follow. Also, they can carry on like spoilt brats with the best of them when things aren't going there way, other gripes I have but just personal opinions. But this particular author seems to be impartial in my opinion, a tad predictable, so no excuse if Australia lose a game, they are perfect!
josh
Roar Rookie
Besides the World Cup, Dhoni gives the impression of a bloke going through the motions, because he has too. Retire.
Bugs
Guest
Disagree with your first point AJM. Ball tracking technology used in tennis follows the ball to its conclusion - in or out. With LBW calls, its only a prediction based on what happened before. The prediction can never be 100% accurate. And with cricket's oldest convention of showing no disdain to the umpires, it makes perfect sense that we defer to the umpire's call. Remember, they are charged with being certain about a call before making it. Further, when you look at the original premise of the DRS, which was to remove the 'howlers', not the 50/50, or even the 60/40, or even the 70/30 calls, it makes sense that unless obviously wrong, we stick with the umpires call. Could not agree more with you about your last point: all matches with DRS each team should receive 1 challenge per innings, no more. You misuse it, too bad. I'm tired of all the tactical uses of DRS - its there to overturn only the very worst calls.
Paul D
Roar Guru
It would be inconsistent – what’s the guidelines for changing the decision? Can't just make it up as you go. A not out decision when less than half the ball isn’t hitting the stumps isn’t a howler in my view, certainly justifiable doubt on the part of the umpire. I'm happy for those to stand.
Jameswm
Guest
Dhoni is showing poor judgement with his comments. There's no problem opening your mouth, it's what comes out that matters.
Jameswm
Guest
There's one other thing I've been wondering about. For those less that 50%ers that go back to umpire's call, why can't the onfield umpire change his call having had the benefit of slo-mo replays? Let's say the ump gives an LBW not out. DRS shows it pitched fine and hit in line, and a good chunk of the ball is crashing into leg stump, just 1-2mm under half of it. If it's umpire's call, why can't the onfield ump change that call?
Jameswm
Guest
Tell me which country has won 4 of the last 5 WCs?
fp11
Guest
Spot on. BTS isn't Dhoni allowed to say what he thinks? Every other "insert your offensive word here" does. Dhoni is a legend. There aren't many Indians I liked over the years but Dhoni I do like. Have you guys seen how he celebrates his hundreds? Very classy.
fp11
Guest
In my view it does, as I said in my post if one is TOO arrogant like Kohli is. It impedes his ability to lead all his players. He is a good captain but Dhoni is better IMO.
Paul D
Roar Guru
And? Success papers over an awful lot of cracks. If a team is underperforming it's only natural that an aging captain in the midst of a form slump is going to come under scrutiny.
Don Freo
Guest
When I point out Matt Stevic's influence in last years finals, it too was "refreshingly candid". I was analytical. Dhoni is grumbling.
Don Freo
Guest
Aussies get most things right. Chicly, what would you criticize about the Aussies?