Recently Dhoni has been taking a lot of heat for his poor performance in Tests abroad (both as batsman and as captain), his differences with Sehwag, his handling of seniors in general etc. I am sure everybody will start kissing his feet if he wins the T-20 world cup again. But somehow I find it hard to appreciate Dhoni or rejoice in his success.
Maybe I hate him because he has an unorthodox method to cricket. His helicopter shot is one of the most unpicturesque shot ever. His batting doesn't have that touch of magic that Dravid or Sachin have. But this cannot be the reason as I loved his batting before he became captain.
Well maybe I don't like the fact that he defies all logic and plays like a buffoon converting easy winners into nail biting finishes. But he can be forgiven for that because in-spite of giving tense moments to the fans he manages to steer the team to victory most of the time. I should rather say that I enjoy those close matches (only if India wins).
After much thought I understood why I hate him so much. It is under him that my favourite player Dravid lost his place in ODI's in-spite of being in good form. I hate Dhoni because it is under him Dravid lost his ODI place, it is under him Laxman retired (I don't see the connection directly, but I feel Dhoni is responsible) and it is under him Sehwag is likely to loose his place in Indian team. Maybe, the only reason I hate Dhoni is because under him I see the cricketers I adored while growing up are getting replaced by youngsters.
Regardless of my silly hate towards Dhoni, if you ask me I'll keep him as India's captain as he brings some lucky charm to the Indian team (I was convinced of this when his Chennai Super Kings made it to IPL-semis miraculously this year). All I want is that he should allow Sachin and Sehwag (the only players remaining from the Azhar-Sachin-Ganguly era) to retire gracefully.
I just read the starting paragraph after which i realized that arguments are just too mainstream i.e., the people who hate Dhoni and love Dada. To be honest i have to say Dhoni is a leader of an uncommon kind. He is someone who evolves and knows things. He is a selfish in a way but it is all for good. I'm not a big fan of Dhoni too but you can't disagree he is one of the most successful captain of India or say any international team.
ReplyDeleteThat's the gist of my post bro.I hate Dhoni because I love players in Dada era (Dravid in particular) , there is no sane reason why I hate Dhoni. Only difference in opinion is you feel he is successful captain because of his cricketing acumen, while I feel he is successful because he is plain lucky.
DeleteI think there is a bias in your argument saying that he's plain lucky. A team is just not one man. It's the team which matters. I will always defend against the argument and it is not so easy to be lucky when in plain sight you see that people do their work. This is not some fiction. See the reality. I bet any captain in the world would agree that Dhoni is a really "skilled" person and just not "lucky". Such blatant hatred is bad. Moral or immoral we all see the mainstream and agree whatever USA does is correct but we need to use our brain to analyze things which are in fine detail. I don't know why Ganguly failed us in the final of 2003 World Cup was he so unlucky? Why did Dhoni win the 2011 world cup despite the odds were against him? Was he lucky? I guess not. But was he fortunate? Yes, he was. He took the opportunity unlike many others. All this stupid explanation is not to prove that Dhoni is a not a lucky guy or an opportunist but i should say that one should be rational enough to judge another person because you should be able to walk in his shoe before judging so hard and being harsh and you reading a lot of books isn't knowledge but knowing how to think is the greatest knowledge.
DeleteNice argument boss. I don't know what the last line 'you reading a lot of books isn't knowledge but knowing how to think is the greatest knowledge' is for. Checked your profile.It has nothing about you. Hope you are not my buddy Kishore Kumar. I wrote this post for fun - especially for couple of my friends who are hardcore Dhoni fans. Don't take it seriously :P
DeleteNow that I know your Kishore, I wouldn't mind continuing my argument (I don't like getting into arguments with strangers and also can't help replying when people I know make assumptions about my behaviour and start unprovoked personal attack .).
Delete"I think there is a bias in your argument saying that he's plain lucky."-Say something new.Even you are biased. "A team is just not one man. It's the team which matters."-never contradicted. My feeling too is that Dhoni's success is more due to good team than his captaincy which is super defensive,I'll elaborate if you care. "I will always defend against the argument and it is not so easy to be lucky when in plain sight you see that people do their work. This is not some fiction. See the reality. I bet any captain in the world would agree that Dhoni is a really "skilled" person and just not "lucky"" - yeah those who work hard are not lucky, but those who take stupid decision without reason and get away with it are lucky.And bet is on. Ask any captain of an IPL team(I don't think you followed this years IPL :P). "Such blatant hatred is bad. Moral or immoral we all see the mainstream and agree whatever USA does is correct but we need to use our brain to analyze things which are in fine detail." - gee...do you really think I am so wired up that my only work in life is to hate Dhoni.We like some people and hate some people without knowing them completely.Just human.It doesn't mean you hate them to the point of obsession.And I don't get why U.S.A comes in picture.Personally I don't give a shit about America. I don't use my brains to analyze if Dhoni is good are not, because I don't care so much about it. "I don't know why Ganguly failed us in the final of 2003 World Cup was he so unlucky? Why did Dhoni win the 2011 world cup despite the odds were against him? Was he lucky? I guess not. But was he fortunate? Yes, he was. He took the opportunity unlike many others." - Tell me what exactly did Ganguly do wrong in WC2003, that Dhoni would have done and won the world cup. Dhoni captained one of the best team and Gambhir played well and it so happened that the only good innings of Mr.cool came in the final.So we won in 2011. "All this stupid explanation is not to prove that Dhoni is a not a lucky guy or an opportunist but i should say that one should be rational enough to judge another person because you should be able to walk in his shoe before judging so hard and being harsh and you reading a lot of books isn't knowledge but knowing how to think is the greatest knowledge. "-great after all the sermon about not judging others you judged oops came to conclusion that I am so hard on Dhoni because I read lot of books, but I don't know how to think. Great to know that you have the greatest knowledge of knowing how to think. Use it properly, lest you may make personal attacks without provocation.
I wouldn't care to give such long replies(case in point see other replies of mine), but I can't help defend myself when the attacks become personal.(I have a big EGO(http://kalyantej91.blogspot.in/2012/10/ego.html). Once again,thank you for JUDGING that I am JUDGEMENTAL because I read lot of books without knowing how to think.
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DeleteI don't see any relation between senior players retiring (or not finding place in the side) and Dhoni ... even MS would have adored them (like u did).Coming to the point of "converting easy winners into nail biting finishes" ... i also don't like when he plays like that ... but that's the way he plays and more often than not he wins the game for India .... Probably I am not able to hate him as much u do because I have seen an era in Indian cricket (right from 1997-98 when I started following cricket) where there was a drought of wicket-keepers who can bat .... After Nayan Mongia(whom i don't think was any close to dhoni in batting) India tried as many as 7-8 wicket-keepers ( Vijay Dahiya , Deep Dasgupta , Sameer Dighe ,Saba Karim ,M.S.K.Prasad ,Parthiv Patel , Ajay Ratra and for number's sake even dravid had to keep wickets for many matches) .... It was very frustating to see wicket-keepers not able to contibute with the bat and in many situations India lost matches because of that .... It was at this point that MSD exploded into the international domain through some hard-hitting batting(his knock of 183 not out in 145 balls against Sri Lanka in Jaipur in 2005 tore the opposition apart).With the arrival of Dhoni India could bid adieu to the tag of not being able to find a handy keeper in a country of a billion. Rahul Dravid, who had been keeping for the team was instantly relieved of this added responsibility.He started winning matches in crunch situations(remember Pakistan and Srilanka series).He has won 2 World Cups for India(till now).He has been the most successful ODI captain and test captain (at home). Just remove Dhoni from the squad of ongoing T20 World Cup and u can't even think of winning it ... That is the essence Dhoni brings in the team.In a nutshell Dhoni’s story is all about an ordinary man doing extraordinary things and a role model for every aspiring leader. Now u know why it is so hard for me to hate Dhoni !!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that he is the best wicket-keeper batsman in ODI's in a long time. As I mentioned even I liked him in the beginning. But don't say Dhoni has no hand in removing Dravid from the Indian ODI team. What is your take on how Sehwag is being treated? He is much better than Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja. Still Dhoni persists on playing them, while removing Sehwag from the playing XI in the name of giving rest or rotation policy.
DeleteYou can't say that its just the fault of dhoni ... an ego clash between Dhoni and Sehwag has affected their relation ... Viru being a very senior member thinks that he has not got the reckoning(i.e. captaincy) that he deserves and Dhoni has taken away the limelight.But everyone knows that MS is the right man for the job.Every person has some talent.If Viru has an awesome hand-eye coordination ... dhoni is the perfect man to lead the side(at least in ODI's and T20).Coming to Rohit Sharma's selection.Everyone knows how talented he is and Dhoni just wants to give him enough chances.Rohit has showed what he is capable of in IPL and he has played well in all the T20 World cups (till now).You can't judge from here what is wrong and what is right!!May be he would have taken Jadeja(which i never appreciated) just for the sake of balance.He is also a human being and human being make mistakes.He is captaining the side and he does what is best for the team.No captain wants to take decisions which may leave him on the losing side.At the end of the day if the decisions taken by him wins India the game ,he is appreciated otherwise he is criticized.
DeleteI read your story. But the title "Why I hate Dhoni ??" doesn't match the story.
ReplyDeleteIts like saying "I hate meat, because, I don't eat it"...It has 0.000 % sense in it. If you like ganguly and dravid , go ask them directly if they had retired because of Dhoni. I bet Ganguly would himself say "I fucked up, so not anymore in team". About Laxman's retirement, it isn't Captain's sole workout. Selectors have seen him as test player, from his infancy, even though he's match winner in all the ODIs he made a ton. Lets say your point is correct about removing seniors..
My question is if all the seniors are still playing when do the younsters get a chance..Raina never used to go beyond 30s until certain point. But he was chance, now he's utilised it. Bhajji is no different from sehwag. They both wasn't and isn't in form.. Selection Committee can't make the best Team just in one trial. If you want them to wait, then they have to be patient like Mc Hussey. They need to be given chance to prove themselves.
Though I don't eat meat, I love it yaar :P. I didn't say Ganguly or Dravid retired because of Dhoni. I said Dravid is DROPPED from ODI team in-spite of PERFORMING WELL. That is my biggest grudge against Dhoni. And I myself told that the reason is silly, still it is the reason why I won't be able to like Dhoni ever. By the way Sehwag was playing much better than Rohit Sharma, when he was dropped (atleast from the playing XI ).
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