How MS Dhoni's captaincy was more influential in World T20 2007 than World Cup 2011

4. Foreign Conditions and team formula

Indian Team is always known as a home bully. All the captains are judged on the basis of how their team performs outside the home soil. The South African conditions were alien to the young Indian line up. Without any practice, the team balance was difficult to be formulated. Yet the Jharkhand stalwart was up for the challenge.

Playing Robin Uthappa at 3, putting Rohit Sharma into the middle order or fitting in Joginder Sharma in place of Ajit Agarkar. All these decisions were not bluffs especially for a country that was playing the format for the first time.

In the 2011 World Cup, the pitches were Indian. The management knew how 4 bowlers formula with work with Yuvraj Singh as a batting all-rounder. Also, the ODI format did give India a proper chance to hide the fact that India did not have a fifth bowler. The circumstances which require the fifth bowler desperately are the crunch games and India actually did not win any crunch game throughout their triumph run. Only two games went to the wire and India tied first and lost the second one.

The conclusion:

World Cup 2011 victory will always be counted as one of the most important wins for India. Their performance in the home conditions and the victory in the World Cup after 28 long years did give a cheerful moment to all the Indians.

But the way the most successful Indian captain led the team in 2007 was more influential as compared to the 2011 World Cup. The inexperienced and rookie players needed more guidance than the experienced campaigners. Also, the composure he showed in the crunch games showed the real magic the former skipper is known for.