Man with the magic touch

All captains are different 8212; they have their own styles, their preferences, varied gut instincts; some attack until there8217;s no option, others defend until they see an opportunity; Stephen Fleming was a thinker, Steve Waugh a scrapper, Graeme Smith the proverbial foot soldier, first to charge down the opponent.

As the Indian team trooped off the field, Dhoni handed over the stump he had picked up as a souvenir to Sourav Ganguly, who hadn8217;t managed to lay his hands on one 8212; thanks for the ton, Dada.

No two captains might be the same, but Dhoni and Ganguly come close 8212; cocksure and charming, with an uncanny ability to make things happen.

Posturing is important

In cricket, at most times, posturing is as important as the strategy itself. With Ishant Sharma steaming in and bowling at pace, a leg-slip may never be able to hang on to a catch unless it hits him in the palms and sticks. But it does make Simon Katich, who loves to walk across his stumps and turn the ball around, think twice about playing his most productive shot.

It8217;s irrelevant as to whether Rahul Dravid would8217;ve managed to put Australia under pressure in the second innings as Dhoni did, but the fact that the captain promoted himself showed the willingness to innovate. The fact that his move paid dividends helped, of course.

In contrast, Ponting8217;s Plan A involved posting four men in the deep to cut out boundaries, and Plan B posting five. Even when it came off 8212; on Australia8217;s last tour here, McGrath and Gillespie managed to stifle the scoring rates 8212; the tactics were branded defensive and un-Australian. In Mohali, India managed to score at five-an-over anyway, so it looked both defensive and a bit silly.

Much like Ganguly, Dhoni also seems to have all the bright answers.

He was asked about the sledging out in the middle, and whether India had crossed the line. 8220;The way to beat Australia is to play good cricket8230; good, consistent cricket. If it was verbal, we would have had hired a few guys who are good at that,8221; he said to a round of laughter that had an strange resemblance to applause, diffusing any hopes anyone had of raking up a controversy.

You8217;ve now won two out of two Tests as captain, he was told. 8220;Sab fluke hai,8221; he grinned. 8220;If you play one Test and score a century, your average will be 50. Your performance is counted over a longer period of time.8221;

What extra pressure?

Always one of the boys, he occasionally, inadvertently, seems to slip into elder statesman8217;s shoes. Is it difficult to slip into captain-mode at the last minute? Not really. 8220;As a wicket-keeper, indirectly you are the captain of your side. You assist the captain, the batsmen and the bowlers a lot. I don8217;t really think there is too much of pressure captaining the side.8221;

And he knows how to put pressure on the opposition. Slyly. Would Australia be able to recover from such a heavy loss? 8220;It will play on their minds. When you go for a toss, it8217;s a fresh start. But, of course, it the impact will stay for a while.8221;

Everything he has touched so far has turned to gold. A Twenty20 team that hadn8217;t played much T20 cricket won the World Championship. A one-day team, controversially shorn of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, convincingly won the tri-series in Australia.

Now he8217;s won two Tests as captain 8211; one against Australia and one against South Africa, numbers one and two in the world Test rankings. If all of this are indeed flukes, as he says, he8217;s one lucky captain.