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Most Intelligent Cricketer

smash84

The Tiger King
yeah I don't know why Dhoni cops so much crap for his captaincy..........he is definitely the best Indian captain in the last 22 years or so since I have been watching cricket. Ganguly was also pretty good though.
 

vcs

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it's certainly not because of his tactics though
It's hard to judge tactics without taking results into account TBH. Though I concede that his Test captaincy will be put truly to the Test over the next few series, and when some of India's top batsmen retire over the next couple of years.
 

GotSpin

Hall of Fame Member
it's hard to judge tactics without taking results into account tbh. Though i concede that his test captaincy will be put truly to the test over the next few series, and when some of india's top batsmen retire over the next couple of years.
dhoni is certainly an excellent leader of men, but a tactical mastermind he is not.
 
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Teja.

Global Moderator
I disagree actually(EDIT: @Jake). I reckon Dhoni is a better captain if you sum up his leadership abilities and captaincy. Must be remembered that Ganguly had both Kumble and a significantly better Harby at his disposal.

I understand the defensive criticism but think it's overstated at times. You can hardly have 6 slips when Abhimanyu Mithun and Ishant Sharma open your bowling in Sri Lanka IMO. He does very very well with the resources he has at his disposal.
 

vcs

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Ganguly was a much better captain tactically. Dhoni simply has a better team.
It's an interesting debate over who was the better captain out of Ganguly and Dhoni. I will forever be grateful to Ganguly for taking India forward in the post-matchfixing era and the 2001 win over Australia, which I believe is India's finest ever cricketing moment, even over the WC wins.

Having said that, we must not forget that Ganguly's team also lost in SL, SA, WI (having taken a series lead), NZ, drew against Zimbabwe and only drew against NZ at home, while Dhoni has had very few disappointing series results (none so far really). So there were some poor results in there as well apart from the notable ones like beating Australia at home, drawing away at Australia and England, and winning in Pakistan. If Dhoni leads India to good results in England and Australia, he will have overtaken Ganguly, for mine.

You could talk about Dhoni having the superior team, but Ganguly also had Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag, Zaheer, and most importantly Kumble, for most of his captaincy period.
 

smash84

The Tiger King
I disagree actually(EDIT: @Jake). I reckon Dhoni is a better captain if you sum up his leadership abilities and captaincy. Must be remembered that Ganguly had both Kumble and a significantly better Harby at his disposal.

I understand the defensive criticism but think it's overstated at times. You can hardly have 6 slips when Abhimanyu Mithun and Ishant Sharma open your bowling in Sri Lanka IMO. He does very very well with the resources he has at his disposal.
This
 

vcs

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Ganguly and Dhoni are a poor man's version of S.Waugh and Ponting.
If you think the team Dhoni received from Kumble and Dravid was anywhere near the seasoned winning machine Australia was when Ponting took over, you're badly mistaken. Even towards the end of Kumble's captaincy, it was under Dhoni that India salvaged a series draw in Kanpur in 2008, and won the two Tests that Kumble missed against Australia in 2008 (the ones Kumble played in were drawn).
 

Spark

Global Moderator
Perhaps he's making that comparison in a different way - perhaps poor tacticians, but superb leaders of men.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Yea Dhoni is a 9 out of 10 in terms of having the "intangibles" and man-management skills but he is unnecessarily defensive at times - I'd give him a 3/10 tactically (assuming five is an average of all international captains). Still not having been defeated in any series he has captained is a good record so you can't say much. Yet. Lose one though and the vultures will be circling in full force.
 

Z-Man

U19 Vice-Captain
We are unfairly criticizing Dhoni tbh, he was not the only one to decide the draw, he had the backing of his coaches and team management - prove is the press conference of Duncan Fletcher.

+ What difference does it make to the game except the 'spirit of game' and 'fans'. To Dhoni winning or losing is what matters not fans as he 'does not play for the crowd but for the country' (Yes he said that in WC).
Using this statement, you can always defend his defensive captaincy.

PS: Dhoni has won the IPL title twice too (This and the last year), though his team "CSK" was never the hot favorite but because of his calmness and brains, he won all the nervy matches and clearly was the better captain. Spectators can always observe the better captain, and Dhoni always comes out as the better one whether that be with his calm and steady batting or his moves in the field/bowling changes.
I rate him the best captain I have seen live.
 
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weldone

Hall of Fame Member
I don't think there's any causal relationship/correlation between being aggressive and being intelligent.

Those two are completely two different qualities. They are as much different as 'being strong' and 'being honest' are, for example.
 
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G.I.Joe

International Coach
I don't think there's any causal relationship/correlation between being aggressive and being intelligent.

Those two are completely two different qualities. They are as much different as 'being strong' and 'being honest' are, for example.
This is very good point.
 

Hoggy

U19 12th Man
For bowlers being able to work over batsmen so smartly and so consistently, Glenn McGrath would have to be up there surely.
 

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