India, Jan. 31 -- When skipper Rahul Dravid opted out of the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007, along with Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, India's national selectors had an array of experienced hands from whom to pick the next captain. There was Harbhajan Singh, who made his international debut in 1998, Virender Sehwag, whose first appearance for the country was in 1999 and Yuvraj Singh, who cut his teeth at the nation vs nation level in 2000.

Dilip Vengsarkar's panel took a punt on Mahendra Singh Dhoni instead, in one of those futuristic moves that was to pay rich dividends in time to come. It wasn't a decision that attracted universal approbation, and even though no one within the setup vocally voiced their displeasu...