Men in Blue ready for captain’s shoes

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Following the ups and downs of the Indian cricket team, one would think that only a madman would willingly want to captain the side. While the skipper is lauded for winning a game, who would want the curses of a billion-strong fan base when the Men in Blue lose? Quite a few it seems.

The latest player to put up his hand was Harbhajan Singh. A great pal of current skipper M.S. Dhoni, Harbhajan had said in a recent interview, “I have said many times that I am available. And obviously, if something like this comes then I would definitely be really honoured to receive this kind of responsibility.” Selectors might have taken Bhajji’s viewpoints seriously if India hadn’t won the recent Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and Dhoni hadn’t steered the team so well.
Harbhajan is not the first player to show his interest in leading the
national side. Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag had also seemed keen to lead the side, but unfortunately the duo’s timing was far from perfect as they were not a certainty in the three formats of the game when they said they were ready to take charge.
It is not just honour. Captaining the side brings in tangible benefits
too. “When a player becomes captain the entire dynamics change. There are additional benefits added to the contracts and bonuses increase by a fair percentage,” explained Pavan Kachibhatla, former sales director, IMG. The annual income from endorsements for a captain shoots up by at least 300 per cent. Also, only the captain and coach of a team are allowed by the BCCI to write columns for newspapers during an ongoing series. These benefits are definitely well-deserved as most feel that the national captain has the toughest job in this cricket-crazy country.
“It’s a demanding job without doubt, probably as tough as being the prime minister of the country. One cannot succeed unless he completely enjoys it. Players in India come from entirely different backgrounds and speak various languages and that can make things difficult. Add to this the pressure and expectation from the fans and the intense media scrutiny and one sees why it is so tough,” explained former Test captain and bowling legend Kapil Dev.
Dhoni, of course, is a natural captain and his calm approach on field when the team is in a tough position has won him many accolades. And benefits aside, the chance for any player to displace him looks very slim indeed. The present selection committee headed by Kris Srikkanth is reportedly happy with him and no change at the helm is expected till after the World Cup in 2011.
Barring the recent T20 debacle, Dhoni has done well in most other assignments and taking the team to No. 1 in the Test charts was no mean achievement. Harbhajan himself said in the interview, “Dhoni is doing a great job. We have a wonderful captain in him. He has done a lot of good things for Indian cricket and I wish him all the luck.”
The spinner’s take on bowlers making good captains, however, got a favourable response from the original little master, Gundappa Vishwanath. “I have always believed in bowlers being shrewd captains. It all boils down to how quickly he can understand his fellow players and bring out the best in them. Kapil Dev and Bishen Singh Bedi are good examples,” the legendary batsman said.
Dhoni’s elevation to the hot seat in 2007 had been an inspired move. Recommended by none other than Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni got immediate success in the T20 World Cup in South Africa. “Selectors will have to be bold. I think we made the right decision when we named Dhoni as captain in 2007. There will be no player who would not want to lead India but it’s important to have the best man in the job and put the national interest ahead of anything else,” said Dilip Vengsarkar, the man responsible for Dhoni getting the job.
Cricket greats like Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, while being the best players, have found captaincy too hot to handle but Dhoni took to it like Yusuf Pathan takes to a slow full toss delivery. With the Asia Cup win and his recent marriage to his childhood sweetheart, it seems everything is going great guns for MSD and others wanting to lead the national side might have a long wait ahead of them.