How Dhoni's defensive mindset cost India the second test against SA

“Maybe the umpires have run out of balls… someone needs to call the Kookaburra guys and tell them to send in a few new balls,” joked Rahul Dravid on Day 4 of the Durban Test. South Africa had begun the day on 299-5 after from 104.5 overs. And even though Ravindra Jadeja had bowled beautifully – when Day 4 dawned the skies were overcast and there was enough to suggest that the fast bowlers would have a chance of taking some wickets. But Dhoni persisted with the old ball despite the fact that it was the South African pacemen who claimed the wickets while India were batting; despite the fact that his pace attack (Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami) had outbowled South Africa in the first innings in Johannesburg; despite the fact that Kallis had shut shop and only had a strike-rate of around 36.39 (at the end of his innings); despite the overcast conditions. It almost seemed like Dhoni had made up his mind. He seemed to have ‘decided’ that India’s best option was to play for draw and continued with the old ball because it made scoring difficult. [caption id=“attachment_1314727” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Dhoni could surely have done better. AP[/caption] By the time Dravid vented in the commentary box, South Africa were 374-5 after 130 overs. The new ball could have been taken 50 overs back. The match drifted towards nowhere in particular but India allowed South Africa to easily take the lead and then build on it, to a point where the hosts could throw caution to the winds and attack the Indian bowling. The old ball did nothing for the pacemen – no reverse swing or bounce. By the time the new ball was finally taken after 146 overs – SA had moved on to 431-7. And even then it wasn’t Dhoni’s decision, the umpires intervened – India had to use the new ball, 66 overs after it was due. The new ball led to some quick runs but India also managed to wrap up the SA innings. But it was too late. Dhoni’s defensive mindset had hurt India. Cricket is indeed a game of great uncertainty but the Indian skipper thought he knew for certain and that was the mistake he made. Coming into the series, not many gave this Indian team any chance in the Tests – maybe Dhoni, who is now 32, felt that drawing the two Tests was enough. If India look back at this Test, they will probably identify the morning of the day 4 where things started to go steadily downhill. At the end of day 1, India were 181-1 and they managed to lose the match by 10 wickets. After the match, Dhoni said, “Overall, I am very happy with the performance.They bowled to the plan that they had.” And what plan was that? To take wickets or to contain the batsmen? Sometimes in a pursuit of a win, you have to be prepared to fail. India didn’t want to take that chance but still failed. They will say that India can take great positives out of this two-match Test series but the truth is that Dhoni’s decision also showed that he was more interested in avoiding a loss than pushing for a historic victory. It is hard to imagine Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane settling for less. They have shown that they are ready to play fearless cricket and they have shown in the Tests that they want to take on the opposition. Dhoni let them down. A sharp contrast from how this team plays in ODIs. They will chase anything down, they will find a way to win, they will do it against the odds. But here, they seemed to be playing for a draw. You play to win right… a draw is simply incidental. Dhoni was the senior, he was the leader… the experienced head… it was his decision to make and he chose to take India’s win out of the equation. It gave South Africa the confidence and the opportunity to push on. We have seen Dhoni see this many times before. The aborted chase in West Indies in 2011, the defensive tactics against England in 2012 and now against South Africa – every once in a while, he has a tactical melt down in Test cricket. A melt down that now means India have nine defeats and one draw in their last 10 overseas Tests. Despite the positives in this series, that doesn’t make for very good reading. Everyone talks about how the youngsters need to learn from Dhoni but perhaps it’s time Dhoni learns something from them as well. Because in case Dhoni has forgotten: Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.