Dhoni, Ganguly, Dravid: Who’s the best captain?

The fifth season of the IPL is just three days old but already we’ve seen some epic battles that have been intriguing, surprising and nostalgic too. Intriguing, simply because, we don’t know what the teams will throw up this time round; surprising because you don’t expect Chennai Super Kings to lose at home or the weakened Pune Warriors to beat the mighty Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium. In normal circumstances, one might have argued, nostalgia wouldn’t have a place in IPL – it just isn’t old enough for that. But anytime you see Sourav Ganguly take over the captaincy, you feel a rush of emotion, both good and bad. That’s what Dada does to you. Every match is a roller-coaster ride of emotions – all of them writ large on the face of the 39-year-old. [caption id=“attachment_268941” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Ganguly’s captaincy was spot on in Pune Warriors win against Mumbai Indians: AFP”]  [/caption] When the Pune Warriors overthrew the Mumbai Indians – it was noticeable – Ganguly’s inputs as skipper were spot on. He rung in the changes, the field placements were good and he was always looking for wickets. This was the Ganguly of old and it almost immediately made one wonder how Ganguly would fare against the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rahul Dravid. Three former India captains, three very different styles and all three at very different stages of their careers… this is truly a battle for the ages. In the past, whenever such questions are asked, they are usually brushed aside – it is unfair to compare players across era’s… why compare greats… each one is good in their own way… These and many more such justifications would be thrown at us. But isn’t debate also the best part of watching sport? And now, we’ll watch the battle playing out in front of us. We can be the judges of the present without needing to be overtly reliant on our imagination. Of the three, Ganguly was always the most aggressive. He, as they say, gave the Indian team ‘bite’. He wasn’t afraid and he never backed down. During the India-Australia series, the incisive comments he made about Dhoni’s captaincy revealed just how good he could be. But to say things in the comfort of the commentary box is very different from actually trying them out on the field. Ganguly is captain simply because Yuvraj Singh isn’t there. And then his record in KKR wasn’t too great. So he comes into this tournament with something to prove. And a motivated Ganguly can make things difficult for the opposition. At the other end of the spectrum lies Rahul Dravid. He’s already announced these two months in the IPL are like a cooling down period for him. As a captain, he was always the most subdued of the three, likely to rule by consensus rather than by force. He knows the game very well but is more likely to do things by the book than by pure instinct. But he is also probably under the least amount of pressure. He’s ready to hang up his boots and we just might see everything we know about Dravid turned upside down because of that. Then, you have the current captain. Dhoni’s record as skipper marks him out as one of the greatest captains India’s has ever had. But the reversals in England and Australia have severely dented his reputation. The IPL is going to be a salvage operation for him. He needs to figure out what’s gone missing. He started off as an innovative skipper – capable of surprising everyone. But of late, the one criticism that can be levelled at him is that his tactics are plain boring. Predictability was never part of his repertoire but now he’s settling down. The IPL, without the pressure of playing for India, might see Dhoni draw on his true self once again. As things stand, Dhoni probably still has the edge because of his tremendous record. But set that aside and it gives us one more thing to keep an eye on in IPL 5; one more thing to remind us that in this mass of worthless battles, there’s still something worth watching.