Mahendra Singh Dhoni is India’s skipper for ODIs now. While most of the country's press has been talking about this being a message sent out by the BCCI, that India is looking towards the future and towards the youth, I am not convinced of the argument. I agree that this is perhaps a move in the right direction, but it seems to be a tad premature and the tenure seems to leave some important questions unanswered.

Preparing for the 2011 World Cup from now seems to be the right thing to do. Planning needs to start now but is this the right kind of planning? To win in 2011 India needs a team. A captain is part of the team. The board first needs to identify 15 players who will be capable of winning consistently. The decision of selecting a captain who is likely to be around till 2011 is more symbolic than strategically thought out.

That is why the ‘sources in the board’ (that damned phrase again) have been hinting from behind the curtains that the holy trinity of Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar need to think about their ODI futures. Nobody from the board has come out in the open and said that they will replace them by April 2008, however good their form is, as they will not be around to form the nucleus of the side in 2011. Officials have only been giving veiled soundbites to try to look as if they are trying to do something.

'Another reason why Dhoni has been given a raw deal is that the three-year 'veteran' would be leading a side with probably no coach against two very strong teams'

One might be temped to tell Dhoni, ‘Timeo danaos et donna ferentes’ ('I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts'). While the appointment has been made keeping youth in mind, the youth have been given just 12 ODIs to prove their mettle as captain against two very competitive sides, one of them being the world champions for 10 years, Australia. This is certainly not looking towards the future. A one-year year appointment at the least is needed. Another reason why Dhoni has been given a raw deal is that the three-year 'veteran' would be leading a side with probably no coach against two very strong teams. If Dhoni proves himself in these two tough series, it will be against the odds.

The board first needs to put a succession plan in place. They need to say that they will ease out the holy trinity in the next 18 months. They need to put up 15 players who will ensure that these players are not missed, and by that I mean 15 players who should be able to consistently win matches for India. That is the only way one cannot miss these three great players with 37,000 ODI runs between them. Then they need the best man to lead the side. If it emerges that Dhoni is the person most capable of doing it, so be it.

This was the best chance to put somebody like a Ganguly at the helm. He should have been given a clear mandate to build a team and groom two people as successors, irrespective of the results. He should have been given tenure for 18 months. Even if India would have won every series, he would have had to step down as captain at the end of it as his job would be to make a team that can compete for another four years after that. Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and even Dhoni were players who came into the reckoning and made their marks under Ganguly. He has a proven track record and he should have been asked to build a team, especially in the absence of a coach.