WT20 2014: Chance at redemption for MS Dhoni

When life throws Lemon at you, make Lemonades. But before making the drink, try first to catch those lemons. If you are lucky, you'll have multiple opportunities to catch a lot of them one after the other. Team India is passing through that exact phase where they get opportunity after opportunity to correct the self-inflicting wrongs happening to them. That opportunity came when Team India toured England (lost 4-0), Australia (lost 4-0), toured New Zealand (lost 1-0). And if you feel the time is right to accuse the team and force changes, behold! We have another international series coming up - World T20 in Bangladesh. You may argue I am comparing Test matches with T20 internationals. Fair point. However, I am just trying to compare how successful we have been in the game of "Cricket" away from home (Yes, Bangladesh is an overseas tournament).

World T20 international is a tournament where Team India will play to their strengths - extensive experience in the shortest format (Read: IPL), talented cricketers who can change the match single-handedly on its head and the playing conditions that are similar to home. This is also the tournament that assisted the transition of a long-haired little known player from a wicket-keeper batsman to a National Captain. And a successful captain, I might add. That person is Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Image courtesy: wikipedia.org

MS Dhoni is a captain known to make unconventional decisions. One of his unconventional decision was to allow Joginder Sharma to bowl the 20th over of the India-Pakistan WT20 final in 2007. The rest, as they say, is history. Joginder got his 15 minutes of fame and Dhoni, a lifetime of recognition. He brought the 50-over World Cup home in 2011 after 28 long years. A captain who could do no wrong, a captain with a Midas touch, a captain who brought the ultimate glory to Team India - WT20 Champions, 50-over World Champions and #1 rank in Test matches. Even in IPL, he has won everything that's there to be won. He came, he saw and he conquered them all, time and again. Only to lose everything in a matter of few years.

All the series losses I mentioned in my opening remark happened when MS Dhoni was the captain. Anyone remembers his 15% stake controversy in Rhiti Sports? Wonder where that news vanished! And the most recent spot-fixing scandal where the IPL team captained by MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings) is involved. Here's the link in case you want a low-down on the spot-fixing scandal. Now lets make one thing very clear - there's no proof that Dhoni is directly involved. Mudgal report has mentioned the names of 2 players currently playing in the Indian team. As on date, no one knows the details. Certain news outlets and people in-the-know think one of those cricketer is the person we are talking about. Hence, the recent 100Cr lawsuit filed by Dhoni against the media house shouldn't surprise anyone. And just to affirm, Dhoni is still the person captaining Team India for WT20 internationals.

Personally, I am a big fan of MS Dhoni. There's no denying the fact that he has been the most successful captain for us and still has few years before hanging up his boots. I feel this is the right opportunity for him to make a telling statement and silence the detractors once and for all, until anything is proved against him. He has the players for the occasion, Virat Kohli is in the form of his life, Yuvraj Singh is making a comeback, utility T20 bowlers in Ashwin, Jadeja and Yuvraj, the conditions are to his liking, players are motivated thanks to inflationary bidding prices in the IPL auction and many players are eager to make a statement to selectors before the all important 50-overs World Cup in 2015. A captain like Dhoni should make these positives count. 

They say - cometh the hour, cometh the man. Will Dhoni be that man? Will he catch some of those Lemons thrown at him before the stocks dry up?