A sports team does in a while. It was a reality check they needed.
What Dhoni needs to do? Being just another cricket mad citizen of this cricketing nation, here's my contribution
1. Stop giving Shikhar dhawan 5 chances to give us one decent batting performance. And media, please stop calling him Gabbar. Gabbar fired much more often, and usually hit the mark.
2. Stop touting Hardik Pandya as all-rounder. 10-15 matches in IPL doesn't make you all rounder.
3. As much as you believe in Ashwin, start believing a little in seamers a bit. If Ashwin is to bowl 1st over in all crucial matches ( a move that often works, not yesterday so much)- what does that do to confidence of nehra and bumrah?? Is this how you develop a young fast bowler- by telling him, "listen, though you are the only seamer in my team who actually can bowl yorkers and have a decent line length - still you will never get opening overs."
4. Tell Yurvraj - "you may have our sympathies, but a spot In top 6 is getting a little difficult to offer you. Perform well, get couple of 50s or perish."
5. Raina - " if we need a player who could give us couple of decent overs with the occasional wicket, and score maybe 5-10 runs, we can get ramesh powar. Or 'find-of-the-ipl' karn sharma. Or maybe someone like Muhammad nabi from Afghanistan to join us for a couple games."
6. And lastly, dear Kohli -" stop taking the burden of getting the team through each time. You aren't getting half of dhawan's / raina's paycheck. Sachin tried that all through 90s and even he couldn't steer us each time. It's okay to get out early once a while - it tests the strengths ( read: exposes the famed depth) of Indian batting line up.
What Dhoni needs to do? Being just another cricket mad citizen of this cricketing nation, here's my contribution
1. Stop giving Shikhar dhawan 5 chances to give us one decent batting performance. And media, please stop calling him Gabbar. Gabbar fired much more often, and usually hit the mark.
2. Stop touting Hardik Pandya as all-rounder. 10-15 matches in IPL doesn't make you all rounder.
3. As much as you believe in Ashwin, start believing a little in seamers a bit. If Ashwin is to bowl 1st over in all crucial matches ( a move that often works, not yesterday so much)- what does that do to confidence of nehra and bumrah?? Is this how you develop a young fast bowler- by telling him, "listen, though you are the only seamer in my team who actually can bowl yorkers and have a decent line length - still you will never get opening overs."
4. Tell Yurvraj - "you may have our sympathies, but a spot In top 6 is getting a little difficult to offer you. Perform well, get couple of 50s or perish."
5. Raina - " if we need a player who could give us couple of decent overs with the occasional wicket, and score maybe 5-10 runs, we can get ramesh powar. Or 'find-of-the-ipl' karn sharma. Or maybe someone like Muhammad nabi from Afghanistan to join us for a couple games."
6. And lastly, dear Kohli -" stop taking the burden of getting the team through each time. You aren't getting half of dhawan's / raina's paycheck. Sachin tried that all through 90s and even he couldn't steer us each time. It's okay to get out early once a while - it tests the strengths ( read: exposes the famed depth) of Indian batting line up.