legendary West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding feels Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not “innovative and proactive enough as captain, especially in Tests” although India would remain a strong contender to retain their World Cup title in Australia next year.
Holding believes that captaining the Indian ODI team is “not a difficult task”.
India have earned many laurels during Dhoni’s captaincy but of late he has copped a lot of criticism, mainly for his leadership in the longest format. “I don’t think ODI captaincy is a problem (with Dhoni) but the longer form of the game is. I don’t think he is innovative and proactive enough in the longer form of the game. But captaining in ODIs it is not too difficult. Therefore India can do well under him at the World Cup,” Holding said.
Holding feels that there are a lot of modern-day players, who ignore Test cricket for extending their ODI and T20 career. Holding feels choosing between Test and limited overs cricket is not a tough choice for the current crop of cricketers. “Why only him (Dhoni), a lot of cricketers prefer playing limited overs cricket,” said Holding, who was nicknamed ‘Whispering Death’ by umpire Dickie Bird for possessing one of the smoothest run-up that the cricketing world has ever seen.
“I don’t think a lot of cricketers like playing Test cricket. It is not peculiar to him (Dhoni) alone. Money is one main reason and if you can work for short period of time and get more money, eventually you want to do that only,” said the 60-year-old, who is respected for his straight talk as a commentator.
Eng experience will help India in Oz: VVS
Kolkata: VVS laxman on Friday said that the English experience would help the cricketers do well in the gruelling Australia tour that precedes the World Cup.
“I’m sure we’ll do well in Australia. The reason I believe this because they’ve got the talent and the potential. You have seen that in lord’s. It’s unfortunate they didn’t do well after the match. It was one of the best victories Indian team had in overseas conditions,” laxman told reporters here.
“It’s about converting them into win. At the same time England series would be a great learning experience for all the youngsters who played for the first time there,” he said.
Blaming batsmen’s collective failure as the reason for the debacle, laxman said, “Our batsmen struggled in bowler friendly wickets. We’re losing the first four-five wickets within the one-hour mark. It’s difficult to come back and save the game.” “We’ve to accept that our batsmen did not do well. But I’m sure the experience will only help them become better Test cricketers,” he said.