How about that, Ian Chappell?
Last week, following India’s disastrous 1-4 defeat to Australia, former captain and pundit Ian Chappell commented that MS Dhoni’s captaincy was long past its expiry date. He said:
One tendency a successful captain has to guard against is outstaying his welcome. Captains have a use-by-date, after which their influence over the team’s performance either wanes to the point of being negligible or their presence actively hampers the side.
MS Dhoni reached the latter stage some time back. The current Indian side is badly in need of new ideas and different stimulation; when the opposition has racked up nearly 1300 runs in four ODI innings, it’s not all down to flat pitches and wayward bowling.
India had lost the ODIs, but their batting had been strong, and they weren’t losing games by big margins.
This week, in the T20s against Australia, the batting continued to be strong throughout. India made 188 in Adelaide, 184 in Melbourne, and finally 200 in Sydney today to sweep the series.
And here’s the astonishing statistic: by winning the T20 series 3-0, Dhoni is now the first visiting captain to clean-sweep Australia.
No visiting captain – not Graeme Smith, not Clive Lloyd – have achieved what Dhoni just did.
This is the first time Australia have lost all games of a home series with three or more games. Dhoni, who had also captained India to a win in the tri-series of 2008 in Australia, is now in a club entirely his own.
The worst Australia have fared in a Test series at home is during a 1-5 defeat to England in 1978-79. In ODIs, they have only lost five out of 25 bilateral series at home, their worst show being the 1-4 defeat to South Africa in 2009. In T20s, they had lost to Sri Lanka 0-2 in 2013.
Last week, following India’s disastrous 1-4 defeat to Australia, former captain and pundit Ian Chappell commented that MS Dhoni’s captaincy was long past its expiry date. He said:
One tendency a successful captain has to guard against is outstaying his welcome. Captains have a use-by-date, after which their influence over the team’s performance either wanes to the point of being negligible or their presence actively hampers the side.
MS Dhoni reached the latter stage some time back. The current Indian side is badly in need of new ideas and different stimulation; when the opposition has racked up nearly 1300 runs in four ODI innings, it’s not all down to flat pitches and wayward bowling.
India had lost the ODIs, but their batting had been strong, and they weren’t losing games by big margins.
This week, in the T20s against Australia, the batting continued to be strong throughout. India made 188 in Adelaide, 184 in Melbourne, and finally 200 in Sydney today to sweep the series.
And here’s the astonishing statistic: by winning the T20 series 3-0, Dhoni is now the first visiting captain to clean-sweep Australia.
No visiting captain – not Graeme Smith, not Clive Lloyd – have achieved what Dhoni just did.
This is the first time Australia have lost all games of a home series with three or more games. Dhoni, who had also captained India to a win in the tri-series of 2008 in Australia, is now in a club entirely his own.
The worst Australia have fared in a Test series at home is during a 1-5 defeat to England in 1978-79. In ODIs, they have only lost five out of 25 bilateral series at home, their worst show being the 1-4 defeat to South Africa in 2009. In T20s, they had lost to Sri Lanka 0-2 in 2013.
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