Legendary West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding feels Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not “innovative and proactive enough as captain, especially in Tests” although India would remain a strong contender to retain their World Cup title in Australia next year.
Holding believes that captaining the Indian ODI team is “not a difficult task”.
India has earned many laurels during Dhoni’s captaincy but of late he has copped a lot of criticism, mainly for his leadership in the longest format.
“I don’t think ODI captaincy is a problem (with Dhoni) but the longer form of the game is. I don’t think he is innovative and proactive enough in the longer form of the game. But captaining in ODIs it is not too difficult.
Therefore India can do well under him at the World Cup,” Holding told PTI in an interview.
Holding feels that there are a lot of modern-day players, who ignore Test cricket for extending their ODI and T20 career. Holding feels choosing between Test and limited overs cricket is not a tough choice for the current crop of cricketers.
“Why only him (Dhoni), a lot of cricketers prefer playing limited overs cricket,” said Holding, who was nicknamed ‘Whispering Death’ by umpire Dickie Bird for possessing one of the smoothest run-up that the cricketing world has ever seen.
“I don’t think a lot of cricketers like playing Test cricket. It is not peculiar to him (Dhoni) alone. Money is one main reason and if you can work for short period of time and get more money, eventually you want to do that only,” said the 60-year-old, who is respected for his straight talk as a commentator.
Asked about India’s chance of defending the World Cup title in Australia and New Zealand early next year.