Losing Midas touch! After facing defeat in two Tests at home, Dhoni finally put on notice

The public outrage pushed the national cricket selectors against the wall so hard that they were left breathless on Sunday, forcing them to act, finally: effecting three changes in the team and putting several other non-performing players on notice.

Although it was the failure of virtually the entire team, both in Mumbai and Kolkata, the target of the public fury was, not surprisingly, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has now for the first time lost two successive Tests at home. His captaincy record has been tainted while his bat has gone silent.

While Dhoni was appointed captain for the entire series and replacing him with one Test left would have affected the team, it's time the selectors have a relook at splitting captaincy between Test and ODI/T20 formats.

But will the selectors, who are paid Rs60 lakh annually (chairman Patil is paid Rs70 lakh), take the bold step before the home Test series against Australia in February-March? If they don't, the public anger - which has already spread on to the streets - could become unbearable for Dhoni and his boys.

LOSING MIDAS TOUCH

Dhoni clearly has BCCI president N Srinivasan's backing. His position seems so sound that Mohinder Amarnath, who proposed split captaincy, got the boot after just one year in the selection panel. It's worth remembering that Dhoni plays for the IPL team that is owned by Srinivasan's company, India Cements.

In conceding the series lead to England (1-2), captain Dhoni seems to be fast losing his Midas touch and the successive defeats have dealt a huge dent to his captaincy record. And, ahead of the four-Test series against Australia, the selectors through their decisions have effectively told Dhoni: Mind it.

Dhoni must be physically tired too. He is one of the few cricketers in the world who plays in all three formats - and is captain too. Therefore, it's time the selectors looked at having different captains for Test cricket and ODI/T20 formats.

The rot in the Indian team was set right from the first Test in Ahmedabad, and the frailties were, finally, exposed starkly in Mumbai.

SACHIN SAVES SKIN

And although Sachin Tendulkar seems to have saved his skin - and the axe - with a 76-run knock in Kolkata, his case too his not very strong vis-Ã -vis the series against Australia.

Tendulkar has managed just 110 runs in five innings in the series. He already seems to be playing on borrowed time, and he must come up with a sizeable score in Nagpur to pacify the public outcry against him.The truth, however, is that the entire batting-up, barring Cheteshwar Pujara (412 runs at average 103), has flopped, that too on the tailored home pitches. The bowling department, too, has flopped.

The changes seem to be the beginning, if the indications from the selectors are not a mirage. Although they are looking to persist with openers Sehwag and Gambhir despite their none-too-great a show, the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, S Badrinath, and Rohit Sharma are knocking at their doors. And the knock is getting vigorous by the day.