Dhoni did everything wrong in the important showdown against South Africa last weekend except winning the toss, whose retainable value was realized by only three batsmen, Sehwag, Tendulkar and Gambhir, who gave a whirlwind start to the innings.

The abject display of the rest of them was a shocker beyond words as from 267 for 1 India plummeted to 296 all out.

Dhoni's first error of judgment was including three medium-pacers and only one specialist spinner in the side. Was this a move to keep Ravichandra Ashwin out of the playing eleven? There was pressure on Dhoni to drop leg-spinner Chawla. He succumbed to the pressure and played tit-for-tat by including a seamer for a spinner. One does not know what Dhoni holds against Ashwin, who in a rare match that he played, had bowled better than Harbhajan.

It appears that there is a parallel power-center in the Indian team, or should we say a gang-up against some players. It works like that: If Ashwin succeeds, Harbhajan's future will be at stake. As it is, he is bowling badly. If Virat Kohli is sent at No. 4, Yuvraj will feel the pinch. After scoring a century in the first match, Kohli has been kicked around from 4 to 7. Suresh Raina is another who is being tactfully kept out.

After losing nine wickets for just 29 runs, Dhoni blamed his batsmen. The question to ask is: When five wickets fell in a heap for just 13 what was he doing at the non-striker's end? Why did he not farm the bowling or speak to the other batsmen to steal a single and give him the strike?

The worst blunder committed by the skipper was to ask the side's most wayward bowler Ashish Nehra to bowl the life-or-death last over. Why was Harbhajan reluctant to take the ball? It has been seen that Harbhajan does not bowl in the powerplay. On Saturday, although he is the side's leading spinner, he came in for the first time after 23 overs were bowled, that is almost at the halfway stage. Did he not shirk his responsibility when most needed?

The pressure at that stage was on the batting side with 13 still needed in six balls. Nehra made sure that the South African tail-ender Peterson got them in the first four.

Is there no one in the team management, much less in the BCCI, to question the captain on some of his decisions? May be, what he does on the field is his prerogative, but what about team formation and combination?