CALCUTTA (The Telegraph): – Former captains Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri are not the only ones not in favour of a change at the top. Apparently, the national selectors — Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Mohinder Amarnath, Narendra Hirwani, Surendra Bhave and Raja Venkat — hold the same view: for now, at least.
While Gavaskar backed Dhoni on television, Shastri did the same in an interview to this newspaper. They don’t, it seems, stand in isolation.
“The reality is that nobody is breathing down (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni’s neck, certainly not Viru (Virender Sehwag), who is struggling to put together a decent innings…That hasn’t been lost on the selectors,” a well-placed source, close to the Board, told The Telegraph.
Speaking on Monday evening, the source added: “Even if the selectors want to make a change, they don’t have an alternative … Gautam Gambhir is also failing … The selectors don’t intend dropping all the seniors and handing the captaincy to, say, a Virat Kohli.”
In any case, a change can only be effected after the February 5 – March 8 tri-series, which follows the four Tests and the two T20 Internationals in Australia, and before the (March 12-22) Asia Cup in Bangladesh.
“Dhoni is the captain till the end of the tri-series ….  Surely, you won’t have a new captain if we do well in that tournament …. To talk of a change at the top at this point is a waste of time,” the source pointed out.
In the short-term, thanks to the one-Test ban on Dhoni, Sehwag has become a big beneficiary. That, too, when his own position in the XI was being questioned.
But by virtue of being the vice-captain, Sehwag is the one who will be captaining in Adelaide.
Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman are being targeted, yet Sehwag has done nothing in Test cricket for well over a year. As for his scores in the ongoing series, they make for poor reading: A chancy 67, 7; 30, 4; 0, 10.
That Sehwag is 33, whereas Dravid is 39 and Laxman 37, has spared him the ire of most of those who react only in extremes.
On the last tour, though, Sehwag got a big hundred in the second innings at the Adelaide Oval and, so, he may not have to scratch hard for inspiration.
With speculation growing that both Dravid and Laxman, who helped take our cricket to another level, could call it a day in Adelaide. Sehwag may end up being the captain in a Test overflowing with emotions.
We will know soon enough.