How good is Dhoni without his best men?

Some would like us to believe that a true leader is born one; other will say that he is made by his experiences. But it has been proven too often that without Brutus, Caesar would have faltered. In his time at the helm of Indian cricket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has scaled the highest peaks in the cricketing world. He’s won World Cups, inspired former coach Gary Kirsten to say that he would go to war with him, and got the best out of his available resources. Through it all, to his immense credit, he’s led from the front. At times, he’s been labelled lucky too. Lucky, simply because, he’s always had an in-form Sachin Tendulkar to fall back on; lucky because on most days Tendulkar would come in after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir had pounded the opposition into nothingness and also blessed because if all else failed, there was always a Zaheer Khan to mop up things. [caption id=“attachment_28115” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“Dhoni’s captaincy will receive a severe test. AFP”]  [/caption] Just look at the numbers: Tendulkar is averaging a phenomenal 75.12 in 23 Tests under Dhoni. That’s the master batsman’s best-ever run under any skipper. Sehwag has been splendid as well, with an average of 58.65. The Delhi opener topped at 65 for Kumble but he played just 9 Tests under him as compared to 24 under Dhoni. Gambhir hasn’t ever seemed like a better player. In 17 Tests, he’s managed to top even Sehwag with an average of 58.85. To have two openers averaging over 50 is rare in modern cricket and to see them do that over a length of time, as Gambhir and Viru have, is a great advantage for any team. Then you have Zaheer. Even though, India’s wins have, to a large extent, been driven by their batsmen, the left-armer’s ability to get vital wickets has often helped his team seal the deal. In 18 Tests, Zaheer has claimed 79 wickets at a career-best average of 26.65. He has never ever bowled better. There are various factors that go into making a good captain. The most important of all are his abilities is to get the best out of his players. And to do this you must know what makes them tick. But what do you do when the players that were ‘ticking’ for so long go missing? Surely, forming a new bond with team-mates takes time. On paper, India has more than enough class to beat a young, inexperienced West Indies. But they are missing something vital; they are missing 192.62 runs per innings (that’s the sum total of the averages of Tendulkar, Sehwag and Gambhir). Take Zaheer out of the equation and Dhoni will suddenly feel like he is leading a team of novices. No disrespect to Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman but both these veterans will need to play out of their skins to take India anywhere close to victory. The lesser said about the bowling the better, but Dhoni, as he has done many times in his career, will need to conjure up another miracle on a bouncy, hard Sabina Park track that won’t make things any easier for him. “It’s been the pitch that suits our style…it’s not where the ball would spin past the bat and better firepower (in the bowling) always has the best chance against the Indians,” an assured Sammy ahead of the first Test. His words leave no doubt about the West Indian line of attack either. Paeans have already been written and read in honour of Dhoni but one gets the feeling that his true test is only just beginning. Without his best players around, he will need to use all his tactical nous and motivational powers to come out on top.