Does Dhoni deserve to be in the Test Team?

Mahendra Singh Dhoni fell to Brett Lee for 20, Australia v India, 4th Test, Adelaide, 5th day, January 28, 2008

Before the ODI series begins and MS Dhoni once again impresses one and all with his captaincy and batting, there is one question that needs to be asked - Does Dhoni really deserve to play in the Indian test team or is he in the team because he has been made the ODI captain?

Forget his captaincy and his ODI performances. Just look at him as a test-match wicket-keeper who bats at No.7. He averaged a mere 17 in this series against Australia while both Harbhajan and Kumble who bat below him managed better averages. Infact even India's No.11 Ishant Sharma averaged 21.50 in the series. So the fact is that India needs more runs from its No.7 batsman. Dhoni's failures have been covered up by the performance of the tail in this series. But it is something which needs to be addressed.


What is most astonishing is the bench strength that India has on the wicket keeping front. Ofcourse there is Dinesh Karthick who was opening the innings until sometime back. But the more interesting option is Parthiv Patel. He burst on to the International scene as a kid and was hailed as a wonderful talent. His batting was solid but his keeping which was brilliant at the start went bad and he was dropped. Now Parthiv is playing at No.3 for Gujarat and the India A teams and has made heaps of runs last season. His keeping is back to what it was at the beginning of his career and everybody is gushing about how his batting has come of age. How much longer are the selectors going to ignore him? It is only fair that he is given a chance when Dhoni is failing in the test arena.

India's next test series is against the proteas at home. So Dhoni might well play and make some runs on home pitches. It is on away pitches and against quality bowling that the question arises. India might well have to consider having two different keepers and two different captains for the two forms of the game.