There are times when you may be inclined to think that the Indian cricket captain could reasonably hope to vie for popularity and instant recognisability with the nation’s Prime Minister or its No.1 A-list Bollywood celebrity. In a country where cricket is the one secular religion, this ambition may not seem far-fetched.
Yet, harbour no illusions and remember this: the job entails tightrope walking without a net and when the fall comes, it is quite often vertiginous and perilous.
It is precisely because of this that the achievements of the two most successful Indian captains in the new millennium — Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni — deserve to be evaluated from the right perspective. As we look back retroactively, we can appreciate their true significance.
Now that Dhoni approaches his twilight time as a leader — he has already unburdened himself of the Test captaincy — it may not be entirely inappropriate to consider the relative merits of Ganguly and Dhoni and carefully plough our way through the minefield of numbers and stats boxes to try and determine who is the better of the two; that is, if at all one of them clearly stands out as better than the other.
Both men may have accomplished much in varying degrees; they have much in common too, which of course does not mean that they are not distinct opposites in many other aspects.
Ganguly’s personality and style of functioning polarised opinions. There may be as many haters of the Prince of Calcutta as there are passionate Ganguly-lovers from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
His self-assurance rubbed off on his teammates, many of whom he took under his wings and nurtured with care. What some interpreted as cockiness and abrasive behaviour was seen by others as a winning mix of self-confidence and attitudinal merit as he responded to challenges with typical vibrant emotional intensity.
If Ganguly was deified and demonised in equal measure, then the enigmatic Dhoni certainly has a lot more fans and sympathisers and you don’t see as much venom spewing out of his critics compared to Ganguly, the bête noire of some critics.
And what is more, you can be sure that Dhoni would not have ripped off his shirt and swirled it overhead — like a drunk teenager at a movie theatre featuring his idol in the latest Bollywood superhit in a show of unadulterated joy — as did Ganguly at the Lord’s balcony after the NatWest final early in the millennium. Nor was Dhoni given to public displays of triumphalism even outside the playing arena.
Carefully scrutinise his face for emotions as he insouciantly hits a six to seal the World Cup final for India in 2011. For, there are none — what you see is a Zen-like nonchalance.
“Some of the great players haven’t been great captains because they have not been able to understand the struggle. You have to have empathy for other players,” wrote Mike Brearley in The Art of Captaincy .
The legendary Brearley, a career psychiatrist who the Australian fast bowler Rodney Hogg said “had a degree in people,” was one of a kind. But like all good leaders, both Ganguly and Dhoni have had many things going for them as captains. The man from Kolkata led by instinct, backed his players, was open to suggestions and relied largely on spinners. But he also groomed Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra and they often delivered when it mattered.
Special qualities “Two of his special qualities are his intelligence and articulation, both of which have helped him immensely in the world of contemporary cricket,” Geoff Boycott said of Ganguly.
Sachin Tendulkar too believed that Ganguly’s “greatest quality was his mind.” The maestro said that the Kolkata left-hander was “hard working not only in the nets but also mentally. He bounces back.”
Dhoni, on the other hand, believed in planning in his own way and stuck to his own decisions. He had his favourites too, and he backed players such a Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla and R.P. Singh, all of whom came good from time to time even if they were inconsistent.
“I would go to war with Dhoni by my side,” said Gary Kirsten, the man who coached India during the 2011 World Cup.
War or peace, Dhoni is unflappable. His self-belief is almost mystical and he wears it like a kind of protective invisible amulet; he responds to challenges as if he has ice flowing through his veins.
What is more, Dhoni has led teams that were nowhere as formidable as the ones that Ganguly captained, although in the early days he did inherit Ganguly’s team.
“Ganguly was sure of his leadership, his tactics. He had better sides,” says Bishan Singh Bedi. “But Dhoni had more clout as captain. And he carried it a bit too far when it came to team selection. The selectors were always aware how powerful Dhoni was.”
The sports media too has treated Dhoni with a certain awed indulgence — a privilege that Ganguly certainly did not enjoy. But what about their records? Ganguly ended up with a 10-3 win-loss record at home but the more impressive one surely was his overseas record: 11-10. Dhoni, for his part, won 21 Tests and lost just three at home but his showing abroad is rather poor: 6-15.
There is not much to separate the two in ODIs, although Dhoni holds a slight edge, winning 55 per cent of the matches he led in compared to 52 per cent for Ganguly.
Where Dhoni is a clear winner is as an ODI batsman. He averages a stupendous 56.23 as captain compared to Ganguly’s 38.79.
Those with a nuanced understanding of the game will readily acknowledge that there is indeed a difference between leading a team in Tests and captaining a side in the limited overs game.
All said, Dhoni was a better captain in ODIs and T20s, and a layman might think there may be very little between the two as Test captains. But Ganguly was well ahead tactically in Tests. This is because he rarely let things drift further in Test matches when the going was tough.
On the other hand, Dhoni’s body language in the face of adversity in Tests seemed to suggest that he had no inclination to switch to Plan B. Well, maybe he simply had no Plan B.
(Statistics do not include the ongoing India-Australia series)
Correction and clarification:The name of the Australian fast bowler who said that Mike Brearley had “a degree in people” is Rodney Hogg and not Brad Hogg as earlier mentioned. The article has been edited for a factual error.
