In the end it was a shambolic display by a champion side. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have for long been one of the two most-successful and consistent sides in the Indian Premier League (IPL). But this season their ageing side has fallen apart.
As they tumbled from one defeat to the next, failing to make the playoffs for the first time in the history of the IPL (barring the two seasons when they were suspended), attention shifted to their talismanic captain and legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Even CSK fans started asking the question, should their ‘Thala’ call time on his glittering career?
Arguably one of the greatest ever cricketers of the modern game, Dhoni had been finding the going increasingly difficult over the last couple of years. Not so much as a wicket keeper or a captain but certainly as a batsman; he is simply not the Dhoni of yore. As he nears his 40th birthday (July 2021), clearly it does seem that age had caught up with the champion.
At the 2019 World Cup in England, Dhoni faced plenty of criticism for being unable to force the pace when he batted. He often found it difficult even to rotate the strike at the start of his innings — something that had been a feature of his batting in his earlier years. He hung on though, hoping perhaps to go out in a blaze of glory at the T20 World Cup that was to have been held this month. COVID-19 and the consequent postponement of that event meant that there was to be no final bright flicker of the candle.
Dhoni knew only too well that he was not part of Virat Kohli's scheme of things, and the long rope given to Rishabh Pant established that there wasn't going to be a way back. So just before IPL 2020, Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket.
The expectation, of course, was that he would continue to play in the IPL and lead the hugely successful CSK franchise for at least another two seasons. After this year's disaster that too has been called into question. Has Dhoni overstayed in the game? Has he reached the stage where people are asking him why not go and not why? The answer does not seem simple.
For starters, there is very little doubt that as a wicket keeper his skills have hardly dimmed. Many argue that purely as a gloveman he would still be the best in India with possibly only Wriddhiman Saha as competition. As a captain and thinker he has few equals in the game.
The problem has been his batting. In some ways Dhoni is now compared not against the mortals who fail under pressure, but with his own superhuman self; the man who if he stayed until the end would win the game nine times out of 10, irrespective of the asking rate or the odds. That aura has certainly diminished with the struggles we have seen over the last two years.
This year it was sad to see him unable to time the ball or pierce the field, and generally struggle like an aged musician trying hard to hit the right notes. The little bit of extra weight that the lockdown induced absence from the game may have added did not help him either.
Indian cricket has not been kind to its legends when they approach the time to call it a day. Kapil Dev, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and many others hardly got the farewell they deserved. With the exception of Sachin Tendulkar, who was given a long stint and a glittering farewell well after it was clear he was on the wane, most others have been nudged to go. In some cases the nudge was hard, almost a push. At least Dhoni is in good company. Ironically, Dhoni was at the helm when some of these great cricketers were prodded into retirement.
Where does Dhoni go from here? Does he still have another IPL season left in him? Would he like to leave with glory even if only in IPL 2021 and not international cricket?
A thinking man like him must surely have looked at life after cricket, and how he could continue his association with the game. His incredible reading of the game means his presence in the dressing room would certainly help Indian cricket and any team he chooses to be associated with. A role in the BCCI, expanding his sports management company, television commentary, even politics, all these are possibilities.
But CSK fans for whom Dhoni still has demi-god status would like to see him go out in glory and not slink away into the shadows after a forgettable IPL. A career that has brought great glory to the man and to the country deserves a better ending. Maybe, just maybe, the cricketing gods have still planned it that way.
Sumanth Raman is a Chennai-based television anchor and political analyst. Views are personal.
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