Kapil Dev Slams Dhoni for Toss Decision, Bowling at Lord’s; Blames Zaheer for Lack of Fitness

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was at the centre of admiration and controversy at Lord’s on the second day and Kapil Dev, for one, is certainly not happy at the Indian captain’s decision to substitute himself as India’s bowler in the absence of Zaheer Khan.

Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan’s hamstring strain put strain on the Indian bowling attack which looked like it had lost its most incisive bite. England certainly made the most of Zaheer’s absence after the bowler made life tough for them in the first session on the first day of the India England Test at Lord’s.

Without Zaheer, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar were the only bowlers in the Indian line up capable of the fast medium range. That being said, while spinning options on a temporary basis could be found to aid Harbhajan Singh, the pitch at Lord’s and the conditions did not entirely entice spin possibilities. Having realized the shortcomings of the Indian bowling attack, Dhoni made the express decision at lunch on the second day to bring himself on to bowl medium pace. As a result of that decision, Rahul Dravid was left to don the wicket keeper’s role while Dhoni filled in for a few overs while the new ball was yet to be made available. The intention was clearly to give his fast bowlers some breathing space while doing the job himself of making up for the absence of another seamer or pacer in the attack.

While the decision was hailed as innovative on the part of the Indian captain to enhance his reputation by some people, opinion was divided over whether Dhoni had diluted Test cricket as a result of his decision by deciding to bide time in an uncanny scenario while also, exposing the obvious deficiencies in the Indian line up wherein the absence of Zaheer Khan has often revealed how dependent India have been on his performance.

Kapil Dev, the former Indian captain under whom India won the World Cup in 1983 before Dhoni’s team emulated the former’s success in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, was merciless in his criticism of the Indian captain’s decision to bowl on the second day of the Test. Labeling it in rather harsh terms that Dhoni was making a mockery of the game, Kapil Dev felt that the decision was uncalled for, particularly so early on into the Test match. To Kapil Dev, it was obviously taboo.

Kapil Dev though did not reserve his wrath only for the Indian skipper, bringing Zaheer as well into the limelight by slamming him over breaking down in the course of the match. Zaheer Khan was coming back from injury after missing out on the India West Indies series and like a few others have expressed concerns, Kapil too is not convinced that Zaheer was entirely fit before being picked for the first Test of the India England series at Lord’s.

It is quite obvious why Zaheer made this trip and not the one before it as also making the line up for the first Test because India could not afford to go into the first Test of such a high profile series, with the no.1 Test ranking at stake, to leave out the one bowler who made their bowling look truly world class. With Ishant Sharma recovering from his past problems and Praveen Kumar gaining ground slowly since his Test debut in the Caribbean.

Kapil Dev blamed Zaheer Khan directly, suggesting that the fast bowler was in the best position to make the decision over whether he could survive the length of a Test match and that he did not make true assessment of his fitness is what has irked Kapil Dev who feels that the decision to play has made Zaheer culpable of putting India in a position where they have surrendered any chance of India winning the game.

While there is no taking away from Dhoni’s enterprise, perhaps Test cricket requires a little more thorough thought process, even for the world’s no.1 Test team.