No defence for Dhoni's decision

There is a lot that is being said about India choosing to shut up shop with a realistic chance of winning the third Test against West Indies: 'Dhoni should have gone in early' or 'India scored at a poor run rate, they should have been aggressive from the beginning' or a different variety of the above. Team India is suddenly being looked at as one without the desire to win, to be ruthless, to be 'Australia'. And for once, criticism of Dhoni's decision doesn't feel out of place. Naturally, Indian fans had their hopes up about India pulling it off - 86 in 15 overs was tough, but definitely gettable. There were sound reasons to be optimistic too - VVS Laxman has shown spectacularly that he can play against balls pitched miles outside leg stump with ease, limited-overs experts such as Dhoni and Virat Kohli were still to come, and the danger of actually losing the match in going for victory was almost nil. That is why Dhoni's decision to settle for a draw was befuddling. He had backed his bowlers to defend 281 in 83 overs on a bowler friendly track at Barbados, and he almost pulled it off. Why couldn't he back his batters and himself to give 86 runs off 90 balls a shot? He surely didn't think that the likes of a well set Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli and himself would capitulate to defeat in under 15 overs? When Suresh Raina came into bat India needed 107 runs off 131 balls - when Raina fell India needed 94 from 119 balls. Surely Dhoni could have risked himself or Kohli for those 5 overs before the mandatory last 15 overs. A brisk 20 odd runs off those 5 overs would have left India in a better position to decide whether they can go for the chase or not. 20 runs scored in those five overs would've made the equation 66 runs from the last 15 overs - a tad over 4 per over and if India had lost a wicket trying to go for the win they could have always played more cautiously, and who better than Dravid and Laxman to do that job. Dhoni has commanded enormous respect as a skipper. He has always done what he thinks is right, and been proved right more often than not. However, this action of his left many with a lot of unanswered questions. Why was he so defensive? Didn't he trust his batsmen? Was the unbeaten record all he cared about? At the post-match press conference his justification of not going for it was as baffling as the decision itself. One almost expected him to say that 'It was all a plan to get England to think we're a defensive team'! Ridiculous, I know - but that was how utterly out of sync his decision was. Personally, it was most disappointing not because India couldn't get a 2-0 result, but because they had batted themselves into a position from which they could go for the kill. I felt sorry for Murali Vijay, who made his only worthwhile contribution in the series and then saw it frittered away. True, Devendra Bishoo was bowling well wide of the stumps. Yes, the pitch was not conducive to stroke making. But wouldn't Dhoni, his team, and the rest of nation have felt much better if the West Indian captain, Darren Sammy had said "I'm glad we managed to just scrape through in the end", instead of "With the caliber of players in their ranks, men like Dhoni and Kohli and just under 86 to get from 15 overs left, I was kind of surprised they opted for a draw"? Moral Victory - West Indies. Abhinav Mukund's early departure was a setback, and Suresh Raina and Vijay falling in quick succession was a much bigger one. But, as it turned out, Dhoni's last throw of the dice turned out to be just sending Raina in - if he clicks we go for the win, otherwise we play to ensure we win the series. The decision to send Raina in was a positive one. It made people think India was going for the win, as they indeed were at that point. Raina is a naturally attacking batsman and that combined with his being a left-hander would have been vital to counter Bishoo's 'I'll bowl really wide of leg stump' line. He didn't find it too easy to get runs at a fair rate, showing that the pitch wasn't really that easy to score on, but there were no signs suggesting that a mediocre attack could get 7 wickets inside 15 overs. The Indian skipper and team management should have thought a little ahead and realised that if India had won the last test England would have had a harder task of toppling them, surely that would be reason enough to go for the kill. Dhoni had said sometime back said that Sreesanth should learn to irritate the opposition and not his own teammates. Well, the Indian skipper has just annoyed his own countrymen with his decision to let West Indies walk away with a morale boosting draw.