Dhoni Could Have Done A Lot Many Things

This has of late been the mantra of the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni whenever team India's performance is far below par. Often Dhoni is seen making statements that includes a lot of ifs and buts that can make and break many things in life. This I decided to make a point after I just now heard Dhoni's statement that "We could have bowled tighter" on cricinfo. The first time I heard Dhoni using such worthless words was after India's miserable loss at the hands of Sri Lanka in the finals of the Asia cup 2008 held at Pakistan. A little bit of planning always helps and is Dhoni an exception?

His words never were different after his team's losses in the second world T20 held at England where Dhoni's men had wins only against minnows Bangladesh and Ireland that were followed by a series of losses against England, West Indies and South Africa. There, Dhoni was in for much praise for accepting his mistake whose result was a complete whitewash for his team. This was followed by Dhoni repeating the same statement (may be with a different set of words) in the ICC Champions Trophy where his team could draw only a consolation win from the game against the West Indies.

And perhaps one has to say thanks for not saying that "had we batted against Australia, we would have won". Of course, there is no rule that a team that had not won until then should not win against a team that ended the tournament without losing a single match. Words of Dhoni were no different when his team lost the one day series against Australia 4-2 of late. Had the players put in a little bit of hard work, India would have surely had the series well within their hands. No doubt that India came close to winning matches against against Australia on two occassions. But, isn't it that margin that makes a winner and a loser of the game?

We have in the past seen many captains slamming their respective cricket boards, captains and coaches, batsmen, bowlers and fieldsmen in addition to the weather, the pitch and of course the umpires. One has to really appreciate anyone who accepts his mistake whenever something goes wrong. But, it its nothing but a joke for anyone to repeat the same words again and again when there is hardly any improvement in his team's performance. A sorry this time should be a better performance in the next and not just another sorry. It is not an unknown fact that better things give rise to better performance and Dhoni need not keep on reminding it again and again I suppose.