Will Harbhajan's dream be relished?

Well it is or has always been an accepted theory that only batsmen make good captains while bowlers rarely get the chance to captain their side. This was the case some 7 years back when Sourav Ganguly was forced to opt out of the tournament against Pakistan and Rahul Dravid was made the captain of the then Indian side which saw wins in the first test followed by a defeat in the second. However, Ganguly returned back for the third test which saw India register another innings win against arch rivals-Pakistan. Then, there were two batsmen who captained the Indian side.

That tournament was famous for Virender Sehwag's (India's) maiden triple hundred when he smashed all the Pakistani bowlers-Saqlain especially all over the ground at Multan. That apart, coming to the point, news on the web is that the Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh is keen to captain the Indian side which is now on its all time high after their world cup win exactly two months back. But, his dream seems far from being relished when it has been only batsmen who are found to captain the side. However, the Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori becomes an exception. Or else, no other bowler seems to hold the tag.

The other side of the debate also has wicket keepers making good captains like Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Similarly there were quite a few players like Andy Flower and Moin Khan who captained their side as well as kept wickets. But, the lone sufferers have been the bowlers and of course fielders. But, with known fielders hardly available and no other name but Jonty Rhodes making it to the list, fielders can be kept out of the list. Of course, even Jonty Rhodes didn't captain the South African side. Another bowler who made it to the elite list was Shaun Pollock.

Or else, the names which captained their sides were Shahid Afridi, Andrew Struass, Dhoni, Chris Gayle etc who were all batsmen or rather all-rounders, Dhoni being a wicketkeeping allrounder. But, despite being successful bowlers, players like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Javgal Srinath etc never got a chance to captain their side. There have been successful bowlers like Wasim Akram, Daniel Vettori, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev etc who have been successful captains. And someone like Sachin Tendulkar is the worst captain India has ever seen no matter how gr8 a batsman he is. With the trends showing no signs of reversing, the question left unanswered is whether Harbhajan's dream ever be relished