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Dhoni or ponting

Thala_0710

First Class Debutant
Dhoni probably one of the worst test captains India ever had.

So Ponting > Dhoni
I think this narrative of Dhoni being a **** test captain is overplayed. He was the first test captain under which India became the no 1 ranked team in test cricket. He lost only one test series at home in his captaincy. Away from home we won the series in NZ for the first time for in 40+yrs and drew 1-1 against a very formidable SA team. After that, the transition period happened and all our legends- Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Zaheer etc retired in a span of 2-3 yrs. Dhoni moulded a new young team which was pretty poor in the beginning... especially in the fast bowling department. Vinay Kumar, unadkat, Varun Aaron amongst some decent ones like Ishant is what we had to do with.
Ofc, Dhoni was defensive in his approach, and Kohli did a better job of backing and developing fast bowlers in his captaincy but people making out Dhoni to be **** is just not merited.
 

govinda indian fan

State Regular
I think this narrative of Dhoni being a **** test captain is overplayed. He was the first test captain under which India became the no 1 ranked team in test cricket. He lost only one test series at home in his captaincy. Away from home we won the series in NZ for the first time for in 40+yrs and drew 1-1 against a very formidable SA team. After that, the transition period happened and all our legends- Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Zaheer etc retired in a span of 2-3 yrs. Dhoni moulded a new young team which was pretty poor in the beginning... especially in the fast bowling department. Vinay Kumar, unadkat, Varun Aaron amongst some decent ones like Ishant is what we had to do with.
Ofc, Dhoni was defensive in his approach, and Kohli did a better job of backing and developing fast bowlers in his captaincy but people making out Dhoni to be **** is just not merited.
Msd was great when ball spun when it didnt he was mediocre
 

centurymaker

Cricketer Of The Year
I think this narrative of Dhoni being a **** test captain is overplayed. He was the first test captain under which India became the no 1 ranked team in test cricket. He lost only one test series at home in his captaincy. Away from home we won the series in NZ for the first time for in 40+yrs and drew 1-1 against a very formidable SA team. After that, the transition period happened and all our legends- Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Zaheer etc retired in a span of 2-3 yrs. Dhoni moulded a new young team which was pretty poor in the beginning... especially in the fast bowling department. Vinay Kumar, unadkat, Varun Aaron amongst some decent ones like Ishant is what we had to do with.
Ofc, Dhoni was defensive in his approach, and Kohli did a better job of backing and developing fast bowlers in his captaincy but people making out Dhoni to be **** is just not merited.
Losing 4-0 in England, 4-0 in Australia, the infamous 8-0 whitewash. Shocking surrender and humiliation of the highest order.

Then losing at home in 2012 was a low like never before, especially coming so soon after 8-0. Then to keep losing away after that in almost every country of significance, he was an abject failure!

Never mention that draw in SA in 2010-11 as some sort of an achievement. Dhoni singlehandedly threw away India's finest chance of winning its 1st ever series in SA, all thanks to his logic defying ultra defensive tactics in the 3rd innings of the 3rd test with SA reeling at 130-6. Series win was within grasp. What we witnessed that day was a complete and utter farce.
 
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Thala_0710

First Class Debutant
Losing 4-0 in England, 4-0 in Australia, the infamous 8-0 whitewash. Shocking surrender and humiliation of the highest order.

Then losing at home in 2012 was a low like never before, especially coming so soon after 8-0. Then to keep losing away after that in almost every country of significance, he was an abject failure!

Never mention that draw in SA in 2010-11 as some sort of an achievement. Dhoni singlehandedly threw away India's finest chance of winning its 1st ever series in SA, all thanks to his logic defying ultra defensive tactics in the 3rd innings of the 3rd test with SA reeling at 130-6. Series win was within grasp. What we witnessed that day was a complete and utter farce.
Also whitewashed Australia 4-0. And as far as white ball goes it's a no contest, Dhoni beat Ponting's 3 time world cup winning side in the CB tri nation series 2008, India's first series win in Australia. Also knocked out a Ponting led Australia out of a world cup for the first time since the 1996 world cup final. Won 3 ICC trophies in 6 years, the first in a T20 WC with a young team given no chance, the last with again an unfancied India team in the CT with almost the entire xi having debuts under Dhoni. And sandwiched in between is ofc the 2011 wc win.
Ponting was a great captain too and dominated 2 world cups in his captaincy. But in white ball cricket, the tactical changes/decisions Dhoni has made have probably affected the outcome of a game more than probably any other captain. And ofc, the results are a reflection of the team more than the captain, hence all the arguments have to take that into account as well.
 

Burgey

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Dhoni beat Ponting's 3 time world cup winning side in the CB tri nation series 2008
You can’t seriously use this as a metric compared with actually winning three WCs. You reckon if India beats Aus out here this summer in an ODI series that Rohit Sharma will consider it a meaningful metric compared with getting beaten in the actual WC last year?

Ponting won three WCs on the bounce and captained two of them. Played in four finals in a row. Made a ton every bit as good as Dhoni’s 2011 knock in the 03 Final. Also won a CT (not that I place much store in that, but if you’re raising a tri series here as a metric then it more than measures up to that).

to say it’s not a contest is quite a stretch.
 

Thala_0710

First Class Debutant
You can’t seriously use this as a metric compared with actually winning three WCs. You reckon if India beats Aus out here this summer in an ODI series that Rohit Sharma will consider it a meaningful metric compared with getting beaten in the actual WC last year?
I used it because it was the first head to head encounter between the two as captains. And you have to take it with context, India had never beaten Australia in Australia before and were coming off the most shambolic world cup campaign in Indian history. Hence, that series win was very significant imo.
Ofc if Rohit wins it now it won't be as significant. Nobody predicted India to win the 2008 series. That's why I said, context is important.
 

Thala_0710

First Class Debutant
You can’t seriously use this as a metric compared with actually winning three WCs. You reckon if India beats Aus out here this summer in an ODI series that Rohit Sharma will consider it a meaningful metric compared with getting beaten in the actual WC last year?

Ponting won three WCs on the bounce and captained two of them. Played in four finals in a row. Made a ton every bit as good as Dhoni’s 2011 knock in the 03 Final. Also won a CT (not that I place much store in that, but if you’re raising a tri series here as a metric then it more than measures up to that).

to say it’s not a contest is quite a stretch.
That's bringing personal performance into it. Ok it might not be as clear cut as I said, but I still think Dhoni's captaincy was more impactful in India's success than Ponting's was to Australia's.
 

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