MS Dhoni's overseas form a huge cause for concern

181-1 and 315-5 and yet we set South Africa a target of 58 in Durban to win the Test match and the series. Something somewhere must be wrong. Add to this we have lost 9 off the last 10 Test matches overseas and haven't competed in half of them. We could even have lost the Wanderers Test match despite setting SA a target of 458. Yes, it is a young team and we must give them time. But with a packed overseas calendar in 2014, one wonders how Dhoni plans to stem the tide of overseas losses especially when he is a serious under-achiever away from home.

In Test cricket, India's high point in 2013 was beating Australia 4-0 at home. Dhoni, as skipper, set the stage with a blistering 224 at the Chepauk. It will forever rank as one of the best Test innings ever played and the skipper, clearly, led from the front.

Now to the other teams that have done well in recent times. It was Alastair Cook's brilliance in India in November-December 2012 that won England a rare away series on Indian soil. Cook had mastered the Indian spinners and the effect rubbed off on the other batsmen. Australia's dramatic turnaround has been spearheaded by the 2012-13 cricketer of the year skipper Michael Clarke.

The point is simple - a leader has to take up cudgels for a young team and take the bull by the horn. Unfortunately for India, MSD has not done so overseas despite leading India in 50 plus Test matches. His dismissals in Durban, edge to slip and trying to whip the ball to midwicket of Petersen demonstrates his indecisiveness in the Test arena. For a man with great potential and one who has been around for years, this clearly is not the best case scenario.

Dhoni has talked up the positives from the SA series. There are positives of course. The biggest positive has to be Ajinkya Rahane. 47 in the first Test followed up with back to back fifties in Durban, Rahane has finally started to do justice to his potential. He has the technique and the ability and should be an ideal number six for India going forward. And he can play the one dayers too, especially with the 2015 world cup in Australia and New Zealand. Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, the two other real positives are both established stars and it was satisfying to see the two of them carry their good form to SA.

With the ball, Jadeja did well overseas but has to bat much much better if he is to play as an all rounder. Unfortunately for India, the lead bowlers, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, were both below par. Except the one innings at the Wanderers, they hardly looked like troubling the South Africans and that explains why Dhoni waited for the 146th over to take the new ball. Should he have played two spinners? There are instances when India has done so in the past and reaped dividends. The Headingley victory in 2002 comes to mind when both Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh did serious damage to the English. With pitches around the world getting slower and slower the two spinner option is certainly one that Dhoni has to explore.

Most important, however, is his own overseas form. Does he introspect enough' Does he realize that he hasn't played to potential? Does he know that he hasnt played a single innings of real consequence after his match saving 76 at Lords in 2007? Is this acceptable from someone we label India's best ever skipper of all time' Can this young Indian side do well in 2014 with the captain repeatedly underperforming and what signal does that send out to the other players' MSD is a champion in the ODI and T-20 formats? We have seen him take India over the line on many occasions in both these formats. In Tests, however, his technique and skill are both in question. He has given his wicket away far too many times and that will be a real worry for Indian cricket fans going into 2014. We need the skipper to do well in the format that matters the most for us to become a seriously good Test side in 2014. That's my New Year wish as far as Indian cricket is concerned.