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DHONI IN SAME BOAT AS COOK By [/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Press+Association Press Association] <br>  Published:  16:31 BST, 8 July 2014   |  Updated:  16:31 BST, 8 July 2014   <br>       [ ]   [ ]   [ ]  </a>     <br>If anyone can empathise with Alastair Cook's current problems, it is Mahendra Singh Dhoni - his opposite number in the forthcoming Investec Test series.<br><br>It is a conservative estimate that India captain Dhoni has 10 times more people - in his cricket-mad homeland  [https://soulofcricketer.blogspot.com/2020/06/indian-cricketer-stuart-binny-wife.html %https://soulofcricketer.blogspot.com/%] - to satisfy than Cook has in England.<br><br>Exacting standards are of course required too of the world's most populous cricketing country, and a run of 14 Tests without a victory away from home is nothing to crow about.<br><br>While Cook tries to arrest his own sorry sequence without a Test century, to add to his national record 25 - and no victory either in England's last seven under his leadership - Dhoni's advice, broadly, is to keep calm and carry on.<br><br>"It is a difficult job being a captain," Dhoni said.<br><br>"It is a difficult phase for him and (one) each and every cricketer has faced - it doesn't matter if your name is one of the greatest in cricket or not.<br><br>"It is a phase he (must) also go through, and it will only improve him as a cricketer and (make him) a better human being."<br><br>Dhoni's thoughts on collective success or otherwise apply just as easily to his own side as Cook's - although on the eve of the first Test in Nottingham he was, in fact, speaking about the opposition.<br><br>India have spent the past winter losing narrowly in South Africa and then New Zealand, and also came up short in their last two series home and away against England - by a 4-0 whitewash here in 2011.<br><br>"It is a phase every team goes through - even the mightiest of teams, like West Indies when they were really dominating," said Dhoni.<br><br>"This England side has very good talent and very good players, so it is just a matter of time before they come back into form."<br><br>Dhoni is sanguine too about India's poor record on their travels.<br><br>He is trying to inspire the winning habit in the post-Tendulkar generation and notes that unchecked progress is highly unlikely for an inexperienced team.<br><br>Another change is perhaps in the offing, with a Test debut for Stuart Binny one option if India decide to sacrifice a frontline batsman for an all-rounder.<br><br>Reflecting on the tourists' recent fortunes, Dhoni said: "Stats are one thing that really teases the cricketers.<br><br>"There have been a lot of changes in the Indian side in the last one-and-half or close to two years.<br><br>"If I compare the first Test we played in South Africa and the last Test we played in New Zealand, there has been considerable improvement.<br><br>"Of course, it will be a challenge for them.<br><br>"But as they play a lot more matches abroad, the equation will get much better.<br><br>"It's a constant process."<br>