Dhoni's challenges

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Hindu, says Mahendra Singh Dhoni faces many a challenge in leading a young side. He believes Dhoni can put it across to his team-mates to look forward to the challenge of playing Test cricket.

Barely worth his place in the Test side after patchy form with the bat, he must prove that he understands Test cricket is paramount, fifty over cricket is next and twenty over matches are a light-hearted romp that ought not to define a cricketer or his community. Otherwise recent victories in the shorter versions of the game will do more harm than good.

India cricket faces a formidable threat to its production line of players and Dhoni is the man best placed to keep things in check.

In Tehelka, Dileep Premachandran says Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly should have been accorded a dignified exit from ODIs.

The decent thing to do, if the captain and selectors were of one mind, would have been to give them farewell games at home against Pakistan, rather than send them home midway through a tour that both consider cricket’s pinnacle. There could yet be a long kiss goodnight against South Africa in April, but that might be almost insulting after indicating to them that they’re no longer considered good enough to take on the best two teams in the world — Australia and Sri Lanka.

Dhoni may one day be a great captain. But you can’t help but think that he’s flunked his first big test. Words from him, a team-mate, would have meant a whole lot more than insincere ramblings from selectors. Instead, two of Indian cricket’s finest sons have been left to look back in anger. Or sorrow.