April
5, 2005.
I was 11 years old and had become a Cricket ‘Veriyan’, thanks to Sachin Tendulkar. It was summer vacation and I was at my cousins’ place. Remember the guy who scored some 1000 runs against me? He had been to his school – class XII had just started for him! He came rushing home, having heard the news about someone scoring a century and racing away to 148. The man sported a wild and rugged hairstyle. India won the match comfortably and since we had missed the Indian batting, we watched the match highlights that night. That was it. There was one monstrous sixer from the ‘BAS’ labelled bat which went on and on and on at rocket speed. We were bewildered to see such enormous power from a batsman whose name had not even registered into our minds yet.
"Mahendra Singh Dhoni" had just announced his arrival. And there was surely more to come.
October 31, 2005.
India was chasing 299 against Sri Lanka and Dhoni came out to bat. After 16 fours and 10 towering sixes and his score at 183 not out, he had single-handedly led India to a spectacular win. I wasn’t surprised to see the scorecard with none of the other batsmen managing to score even a fifty. By this time, Dhoni had earned a name for himself and there were numerous articles about his hairstyle, his hometown ‘Ranchi’ and that he drinks 7 litres of milk every day and all that! To me and other cricket lovers – this guy finishes off matches in some style we hadn’t seen before – all matches followed this pattern of a six from Dhoni’s bat over long-on or long-off. He did that so often that people started expecting him to do it every single time when India was just about to win.
For the first time, Indian fans had started expecting something from a batsman other than "Sachin Tendulkar".
It was the final match of the IPL 2010 and the beginning of a historic rivalry between the two teams. I was a supporter of the Mumbai Indians, mainly because of Sachin Tendulkar. He had been in full flow during that edition and had kept the Orange Cap for himself throughout! Mumbai Indians had been topping the table ever since the beginning while the Chennai Super Kings had to win 5 out of 7 matches to make it to the last four. And they had done that, with Dhoni taking Irfan Pathan for granted in the last over of the match hitting him twice out of the park and scoring 16 runs to enter into the play-offs. There was a rare show of emotion from MSD when he punched himself on his cheeks saying something to himself, after hitting the last six! This man was so determined and he wanted to prove something. It was evident during his sharp moves during the final. Sachin had been anchoring his stay at the crease on 48 not out when MSD wrote the perfect script for Sachin to make some mistake and get that prized wicket! Pollard tried to run away with the match, but MSD had other ideas. He kept a fielder so straight to the batsman and the umpire alike, near mid-off and removed Pollard out of the equation too. I was completely in shock when this happened, because for the first ever time I was at the receiving end of a typical Dhoni tactic and its execution to perfection. Chennai Super Kings won the IPL 2010, went on to win the Champions League and further defended their title in IPL 2011.
MS Dhoni had become the “Man with the Midas Touch”, without doubt.
I had switched off my TV and my eyes were whelming with tears after seeing Sachin caught behind. How much I had waited for this occasion to see him play in this World Cup Final. It was but a billion others’ dream too. And the God himself had been waiting for this day for so many years! He looked in fine touch and after seeing his cover drive and straight drive coming from the sweet-spot of his bat, I was so confident of a promising knock. Because those trademark shots were always an indication of what was about to come! I felt pain throughout my face and started crying so badly. My Dad who had always been a harsh critic of the Indian Cricket Team came out in support and switched on the Television. I had no hope. I was able to recall the day when India had lost the 2003 World Cup to Australia. Slowly, Gambhir and Kohli were in the process of recovery. I was totally surprised by MSD’s move to step in when Kohli had got out. But, hope was back for sure. I knew he was the man to look up to, when it mattered the most! And, he did that quite in his own style. I had heard and read of many Captain’s knocks before. But along with a billion others, I witnessed the best ever knock from a Captain, live on the night of the final. He didn’t have a great tournament. It never mattered too. His was a gritty, determined, solid and a well-focused knock. He was at his cunning, destroying, marauding best and played mind games with the Sri Lankan bowlers, especially Malinga and Muralitharan. He wrote off everyone who had questioned him before, with his bat. And, India celebrated in the end when he lit up millions of faces that night, making people smile with those happy tears. He had brought Sachin Tendulkar’s dream come true and I was crying too with so much emotion. My Dad was totally speechless. He didn’t express much during the presentations too, he seemed like he had won just another match. Such was his humbleness. Oh God! Someone, please tell him that he had won the World Cup and ask him to react properly! The way he ends his presentation talks or press conferences with “Thanks a lot!” You got to learn so many things about leadership from this guy.
June 23, 2013.
The Champions Trophy Final between India and England. The match had been reduced to 20 overs a side and India had scored only 129. I was watching the match in Boys’ Hostel, so guess the environment for yourself for every ball that was bowled! Morgan and Bopara had almost snatched the match away from us and a clear English win was becoming obvious with every passing minute. MS Dhoni gives the ball to Ishant Sharma, much to everyone’s surprise and people all around me had instantly started cursing him for the decision. Ishant was not having a good match at all, having been hit almost every single ball he bowled until then. And it was time for some magic to happen. Both the batsmen who were well set until then were dismissed in similar fashion, caught by Ashwin. In few minutes, India had wrapped up the match perfectly and won the tournament. And the best sight was to see MSD jumping from behind the stumps after the last ball. Six runs were required from that ball and it was a dot. That was a very young team and the celebrations got too wild. But, this man as he always is, remains unperturbed.
March 26, 2015.
Last October, after watching "MS Dhoni – The Untold Story", I recollected all of these back and felt proud to have witnessed everything. On his decision to quit captaincy last week, I felt like writing it all out. This man has given me so much to remember and cherish, and he has made me cry at times too, but only with a smile. He has taught the world to overcome pressure and to go about making things work even when they don't and amidst other storms inside! His calmness in the field, particularly the way he carries himself has inspired me to follow his ways whenever I find myself in such situations. He is the best wicket keeping batsman that India has had so far. No one can forget the damage that Dhoni was silently doing when people were busy watching Sachin’s 200. He could have almost killed Dale Steyn that day! The Mustafizur run-out during 2016 World T20 and the numerous lightning-speed stumpings from behind that baffled the batsmen and killed them mentally. Arguably, he is the best of all the captains who have played this game. And without a hint of doubt, he is the best finisher in One Day Cricket’s history. More than all this, he has the most cunning cricketing brain that can think of and trap any opposition team.
Now that he has relieved himself from the Captaincy and with Kohli so strong at the helm, I have these two wishes just like the many of MSD’s hardcore fans.
One, he should bat up the order and unleash the aggressive side of his batting which he once flaunted during the time when he entered into the cricketing scene.
Two, I would love to see the Indian team giving Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a lap of honor around the Lord’s Cricket Ground, after winning the World Cup Final, 2019.
I was 11 years old and had become a Cricket ‘Veriyan’, thanks to Sachin Tendulkar. It was summer vacation and I was at my cousins’ place. Remember the guy who scored some 1000 runs against me? He had been to his school – class XII had just started for him! He came rushing home, having heard the news about someone scoring a century and racing away to 148. The man sported a wild and rugged hairstyle. India won the match comfortably and since we had missed the Indian batting, we watched the match highlights that night. That was it. There was one monstrous sixer from the ‘BAS’ labelled bat which went on and on and on at rocket speed. We were bewildered to see such enormous power from a batsman whose name had not even registered into our minds yet.
"Mahendra Singh Dhoni" had just announced his arrival. And there was surely more to come.
October 31, 2005.
India was chasing 299 against Sri Lanka and Dhoni came out to bat. After 16 fours and 10 towering sixes and his score at 183 not out, he had single-handedly led India to a spectacular win. I wasn’t surprised to see the scorecard with none of the other batsmen managing to score even a fifty. By this time, Dhoni had earned a name for himself and there were numerous articles about his hairstyle, his hometown ‘Ranchi’ and that he drinks 7 litres of milk every day and all that! To me and other cricket lovers – this guy finishes off matches in some style we hadn’t seen before – all matches followed this pattern of a six from Dhoni’s bat over long-on or long-off. He did that so often that people started expecting him to do it every single time when India was just about to win.
For the first time, Indian fans had started expecting something from a batsman other than "Sachin Tendulkar".
September 24, 2007.
It was the day of the T20 World Cup Final. At
the start of the tournament, no one would have believed the ‘Men in Blue’ to
reach the Knock-outs and anything beyond. It was a collective team effort and
India had in fact, won matches on merit. But, there were surely those ‘MS Dhoni’
moments that changed the course of every match and completely tilted things in
India’s favor. The bowl-out against Pakistan, the bowling changes against South
Africa, counter pressure against England and killing Aussies in their own way
by pure instincts and aggression. Australia could have won it easily at one
stage when Symonds and Hayden were batting and all of a sudden, there were
numerous bowling and fielding tactics that Dhoni employed and it all worked
wonders. Aussies lost it cheaply with even Michael Hussey struggling at one end
unable to get going with. Now in the night of the final, with Misbah slowly
taking this match away from India, skiing this full toss over long-off and
Pakistan coaches who were earlier seen murmuring verses from Quran had started
screaming happy shouts even before the result! MS Dhoni kept his calm and
walked up to Joginder Sharma and the rest is history. I had my heart out of my
mouth when Sreesanth took that catch and India won the World Cup. Dhoni showed
his fist up when others were celebrating wildly and took his shirt off and gifted
it to the manager’s kid as promised and instead wore a sleeveless Team India
shirt. All through the tournament, he hadn’t showed much of any kind of emotion
on his face, be it whatever situation or result of the match.
His fan following was so obvious now and he got this new name, “Captain Cool”. He rightfully deserved it and started living up to it.
His fan following was so obvious now and he got this new name, “Captain Cool”. He rightfully deserved it and started living up to it.
April 25, 2010.
It was the final match of the IPL 2010 and the beginning of a historic rivalry between the two teams. I was a supporter of the Mumbai Indians, mainly because of Sachin Tendulkar. He had been in full flow during that edition and had kept the Orange Cap for himself throughout! Mumbai Indians had been topping the table ever since the beginning while the Chennai Super Kings had to win 5 out of 7 matches to make it to the last four. And they had done that, with Dhoni taking Irfan Pathan for granted in the last over of the match hitting him twice out of the park and scoring 16 runs to enter into the play-offs. There was a rare show of emotion from MSD when he punched himself on his cheeks saying something to himself, after hitting the last six! This man was so determined and he wanted to prove something. It was evident during his sharp moves during the final. Sachin had been anchoring his stay at the crease on 48 not out when MSD wrote the perfect script for Sachin to make some mistake and get that prized wicket! Pollard tried to run away with the match, but MSD had other ideas. He kept a fielder so straight to the batsman and the umpire alike, near mid-off and removed Pollard out of the equation too. I was completely in shock when this happened, because for the first ever time I was at the receiving end of a typical Dhoni tactic and its execution to perfection. Chennai Super Kings won the IPL 2010, went on to win the Champions League and further defended their title in IPL 2011.
MS Dhoni had become the “Man with the Midas Touch”, without doubt.
April 2, 2011.
I had switched off my TV and my eyes were whelming with tears after seeing Sachin caught behind. How much I had waited for this occasion to see him play in this World Cup Final. It was but a billion others’ dream too. And the God himself had been waiting for this day for so many years! He looked in fine touch and after seeing his cover drive and straight drive coming from the sweet-spot of his bat, I was so confident of a promising knock. Because those trademark shots were always an indication of what was about to come! I felt pain throughout my face and started crying so badly. My Dad who had always been a harsh critic of the Indian Cricket Team came out in support and switched on the Television. I had no hope. I was able to recall the day when India had lost the 2003 World Cup to Australia. Slowly, Gambhir and Kohli were in the process of recovery. I was totally surprised by MSD’s move to step in when Kohli had got out. But, hope was back for sure. I knew he was the man to look up to, when it mattered the most! And, he did that quite in his own style. I had heard and read of many Captain’s knocks before. But along with a billion others, I witnessed the best ever knock from a Captain, live on the night of the final. He didn’t have a great tournament. It never mattered too. His was a gritty, determined, solid and a well-focused knock. He was at his cunning, destroying, marauding best and played mind games with the Sri Lankan bowlers, especially Malinga and Muralitharan. He wrote off everyone who had questioned him before, with his bat. And, India celebrated in the end when he lit up millions of faces that night, making people smile with those happy tears. He had brought Sachin Tendulkar’s dream come true and I was crying too with so much emotion. My Dad was totally speechless. He didn’t express much during the presentations too, he seemed like he had won just another match. Such was his humbleness. Oh God! Someone, please tell him that he had won the World Cup and ask him to react properly! The way he ends his presentation talks or press conferences with “Thanks a lot!” You got to learn so many things about leadership from this guy.
June 23, 2013.
The Champions Trophy Final between India and England. The match had been reduced to 20 overs a side and India had scored only 129. I was watching the match in Boys’ Hostel, so guess the environment for yourself for every ball that was bowled! Morgan and Bopara had almost snatched the match away from us and a clear English win was becoming obvious with every passing minute. MS Dhoni gives the ball to Ishant Sharma, much to everyone’s surprise and people all around me had instantly started cursing him for the decision. Ishant was not having a good match at all, having been hit almost every single ball he bowled until then. And it was time for some magic to happen. Both the batsmen who were well set until then were dismissed in similar fashion, caught by Ashwin. In few minutes, India had wrapped up the match perfectly and won the tournament. And the best sight was to see MSD jumping from behind the stumps after the last ball. Six runs were required from that ball and it was a dot. That was a very young team and the celebrations got too wild. But, this man as he always is, remains unperturbed.
March 26, 2015.
MS had retired from Test Cricket and was up for
defending his World Cup Title. The team’s campaign was synchronous with the “We
Won’t Give It Back” quote that had become popular among Indian fans all around.
India was coasting 6-0 through the league phase and MS had to play a
responsible knock in one of those matches which he finished off with a boundary.
There were no hiccups against Bangladesh in the Quarter Finals too. India was
chasing 329 against Australia in Australia in a World Cup Semi Final! Things
were in control with Dhawan playing so dominantly and at free will. And then
everything was set for a collapse. MS tried his best to consolidate and
anchored the innings, but he had little or no support from the other batsmen. I
had run away from one of my Viva Voce Examination all through the path from
college to hostel to reach the recreation room! MS had actually sent the ball
out of the park and the shouts went sky high as I just reached the room to get
a glimpse of the TV amidst the already hundreds present there. The scorecard
looked pretty bad. But, there was terror on the faces of Clarke, Smith and
others. Forget the match, forget the world cup. This was ultimate fear! No one from a losing team with such
sky-rocketed required run-rate can give this fear to one of the best teams in
the world. That’s Mahi for you. MS had eventually got run-out few balls later,
walked towards the pavilion with his head held down and Australia completed
formalities and went on to win the World Cup. MS addressed the media with
tears in his eyes and it was clear that he had been hiding so much of emotions
all these years that were finally coming out. Dhoni had become a father, half
way though the World Cup. In one of the press conferences for a question on why
he hasn’t gone back to India to see his daughter, he is reported to have said
this – “I am on National Duty. So, everything else can wait!”
Last October, after watching "MS Dhoni – The Untold Story", I recollected all of these back and felt proud to have witnessed everything. On his decision to quit captaincy last week, I felt like writing it all out. This man has given me so much to remember and cherish, and he has made me cry at times too, but only with a smile. He has taught the world to overcome pressure and to go about making things work even when they don't and amidst other storms inside! His calmness in the field, particularly the way he carries himself has inspired me to follow his ways whenever I find myself in such situations. He is the best wicket keeping batsman that India has had so far. No one can forget the damage that Dhoni was silently doing when people were busy watching Sachin’s 200. He could have almost killed Dale Steyn that day! The Mustafizur run-out during 2016 World T20 and the numerous lightning-speed stumpings from behind that baffled the batsmen and killed them mentally. Arguably, he is the best of all the captains who have played this game. And without a hint of doubt, he is the best finisher in One Day Cricket’s history. More than all this, he has the most cunning cricketing brain that can think of and trap any opposition team.
Now that he has relieved himself from the Captaincy and with Kohli so strong at the helm, I have these two wishes just like the many of MSD’s hardcore fans.
One, he should bat up the order and unleash the aggressive side of his batting which he once flaunted during the time when he entered into the cricketing scene.
Two, I would love to see the Indian team giving Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a lap of honor around the Lord’s Cricket Ground, after winning the World Cup Final, 2019.
That will be the best tribute for you.
Thank you Mahi, for all that you have done.
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