Just "cool" it, okay?

Just "cool" it, okay?

A world cup winning captain can do no wrong, especially when he delivers the knock out punch to Pakistan in the finals. Add to this the tantalizing twists and turns which India's Young Turks overcame, and you know you are witness to history unfolding right in front of you. That moment, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Destiny's Chosen Child, became God.

Merely a week after his divine incarnation, things suddenly are turning mortal. Though its nothing new in our cricket-crazy republic. Only, the honeymoon period is shrinking by the hour. If you go by the way Australia are hurtling ahead in the current ODI series, dark, ominous clouds are already gathering behind the once sparkingly shining sun. Perhaps, we are blinded by the sun. Perhaps, these are passing clouds. Or maybe it is a figment of one's imagination.

A few months down the line would be just the time to test this theory. When the over-indulgent, over-hyped media and totally fickle-minded fans discover that MSD is not god, after all. And that he has just given us the kick of a LSD.

The issue here is about the media, the commentariat, and the fans, going gaga over MSD's captaincy. True, India's success has many fathers, but was MSD really the Big Daddy of all?

Barring a few moves here and there, the fact is his captaincy did not reveal anything new. If he brought anything to the table, it was luck. Winning five consecutive tosses does not happen all the time. Maybe that's why he has lucked out in the Future Cup series against Australia.

As for being Mr Cool Guy, it's time we called the bluff. Are we trying to count the chickens before they are hatched? After the T-20 triumph, there is an obscene eagerness to look a gift horse in the mouth, and see things in him that we want to see. Just cool it, okay?

Only the other day, we had Rahul Dravid, remember, who was precisely in the same league. If MSD has the world cup trophy in his cupboard, Rahul Dravid had a string of 17 successive ODI wins on the trot. And look how things became hot for the original Cool Guy Version 1.0? What is to say that things won't get similarly hotter for MSD Version 2.0?

Viewing it dispassionately, the jury ought to be out on this. Let's not jump the gun so soon. MSD has had a brilliant probation, it is now up to him to confirm his promise. Till that happens, let's keep him mortal and not destroy another great talent by deifying him as god.

Here's another blasphemous assessment. For all his agro (and he has oodles of it, agreed), Dhoni's pyrotechnics were mostly invisible in the T20, and in the ongoing Future Cup series. Barring a single knock of 36 off 18 balls, he simply failed to explode throughout the world cup. Worse, he didn't even look like exploding, managing barely to potter around, scoring at best at a run a ball. Which is simply candy for any average team to get.

And all that talk of his being a great motivator, is mostly just that. Consider: It's not as if our team mostly comprised greenhorns. Barring a few, most of them have represented India at the international level. Two, when you are winning, that in itself is a great motivator. Three, a new captain whose performance has been below par at worst, or average at best, cannot be described as a great motivator by any stretch of imagination.

This is not to dispute MSD's leadership skills. The point is, we should not go overboard in our assessment of his skills. What he has, is admittedly a heady cocktail of talent, agro and a level head. What he does NOT have, can be gained by experience and performance upfront, and not by gratuitous praise re-circulated in tons of reams and sound bytes. Spare him the adulation, that he may deserve all that, again and again.

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

	Home \| Archived News Headlines