Under-fire Dhoni offers to step down as captain

DHAKA: India’s embattled skipper MS Dhoni is willing to step down as captain to focus on his own game after his team’s stunning ODI series defeat against Bangladesh on Sunday.
Dhoni also decided to hit back at his critics, saying the captaincy was a responsibility he was given and not something he craved or clung to.
“I am really enjoying my cricket,” Dhoni said when asked of his captaincy plans, before making plain his annoyance at the media scrutiny. “I know this question was coming. I know the media really loves me. These are the questions that will keep popping up.
“Yes, if it is a justifiable thing that if you remove me and the Indian cricket will start doing really well, and if I am the reason for all the bad that is happening to Indian cricket, definitely I would love to step away and play as a player. Ultimately you want India to win. It doesn’t matter who is the captain. I was never really in line to become a captain. It was a job or responsibility for me. I have taken that responsibility. It was given to me, I took it. If they want to take it away, I am happy to give it away.
“What is more important is to play for the country and contribute to the team and try to keep the dressing-room atmosphere good. So that whenever youngsters are coming in, they can come and perform. That will be the ultimate achievement for me. Also, it is slightly different. Indian cricket had been used to players coming in toned, ready for international cricket. Now it has changed. You have to grind it through. Cricket has changed and all that. We have had tough times. That’s what cricket is all about. You can’t win every series you play.
“The whole idea was for me to go up and play more freely,” Dhoni said. “The last four-five years, I have batted at 6, and there is always some kind of pressure other so I have not been able to bat freely. I wanted to get set and bat freely, but when I got set we lost wickets. Then we had to build some kind of partnership before we could go after the bowlers, then again we lost a couple of wickets. It was not really possible.
“I would like to bat slightly up in the order so I can play a bit more freely. Yes I have adapted to what the team needed of me since 2006, but for the longer run it is important for us to see who is a good batter at No. 6, at 7 or even maybe 5. That is why I dropped (Suresh) Raina (down the order). He has been successful at that slot.
“If I move up there, it should be someone experienced at that slot. It is a difficult slot. You can’t just go out there and play the big shot. You don’t really have as many big batsmen behind you. If an opener plays a big shot. he thinks twice, but if you are No. 6 or 7 you have to think three times or you don’t think at all because you are not worried about anything else.
“It doesn’t matter who is the captain. I was never really in line to become a captain. It was a job or responsibility for me. If they want to take it away, I am happy to give it away.”
The long-serving captain, who will turn 34 next month, gave up the test captaincy midway through the series in Australia in December before retiring from the longer format altogether.
The wicketkeeper-batsman took over the ODI mantle from Rahul Dravid after India’s group-stage exit from the 2007 World Cup in West Indies and is considered the country’s greatest skipper in limited-overs format.
He has won a Twenty20 World Cup, the 2011 50-overs World Cup at home and also the Champions Trophy in England, as well as taking India to the top of world test rankings.