Two different Test series finished recently in England and Sri Lanka respectively. Apart from the embarrassing defeats for the visiting teams, which happen to be India and Pakistan, there were more some other similarities as well. The most important being the captaincy styles of MS Dhoni and Misbah-ul-Haq.

In the case of India, Dhoni’s passive approach let the team down. India took the lead in the series when they won the second Test at Lords courtesy the best bowling performance of their tall fast bowler, Ishant Sharma. He made the English batsmen jump, and at times hobble, with his short pitch bowling, paving the way for a famous victory. It was expected that the win at Lords would instill self belief in the Indian team. Its players were expected to deliver the knockout punch in the next match against a team seemingly without a leader and low on confidence after not being able to win the home series against Sri Lanka before Lords’ defeat. There were widespread calls for their captain Alastair Cook to step down. Some went as far as suggesting that he needed to take a break from cricket.

But what followed was apt demonstration in how modern-day Test cricket is not so much about attrition and matches are won only when there's intent. Dhoni is known in the cricketing circles for his laid-back approach, just like Pakistan’s captain, Misbah. It's true that the failure of the batting stalwarts of India, most notable being Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara did play a very important part in India’s defeat, but one cannot overlook the part of the passive Dhoni.

On his part, he seemed to be sitting and savoring the Lords’ victory and rather than going all out to assert himself and his team over England. He allowed the opposition to bounce back and get in stride all the way to a series win. Let's not indulge ourselves in the face between Anderson and Jadeja, but the performance of the players and teams & the series results after the same, suggest that it served as a tonic not only for Anderson but the whole English team. They lifted their game and simply outplayed India.

After the humiliating defeat, there was a sharp reaction from various circles of Indian cricket with even calls for the highly paid cricketers to forfeit their wages.

On the other hand, Pakistan lost the series against Sri Lanka and captain Misbah credited opposing spinner Ranagana Herath for unbelievable spin bowling. He seemed to have missed the point that during both the matches, Pakistan was in a very strong position and threw it away in the second innings. It was baffling the way they batted on both occasions.

It seems that the approach of Misbah, which is defensive in nature, has crept into the minds of the teammates as well. If that is not the case, what can be the logical reason for the way a batsman like Ahmed Shahzad has played recently? It is an oft repeated argument and with the cycle continuing there is little to be gained from dissecting it further.

Perhaps, both Misbah and Dhoni can take a cue from their much younger counterpart, Angelo Mathews. With Sri Lanka set to turn a corner with the retirement of batting great Mahela Jayawardene, and possibly Kumar Sangakkara in the near future, the 27-year-old has illustrated how being a bit more daring could earn positive results. It also begs the question whether Misbah and Dhoni have reached the end of their road as leaders of their respective sides. With six months to go to the 2015 World Cup in Australia, it is highly unlikely that the cricket boards of both countries would be willing to do anything drastic.