When the history of cricket is written, the most read chapter will undoubtedly be the one on the great entertainers of the game. There have been those who accumulated runs, took wickets by the bucketful, and captained shrewdly. Yet the ones who are remembered the most are those who cricket fans paid good money to watch, those who kept TV audiences glued to their seats even when the task before their team seemed hopeless.
One of the brightest stars in the firmament of world cricket and one of the greatest entertainers the game has ever seen, Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought the curtains down on his international career on Independence Day. With an Instagram post and video released at 1929 Hrs — ironically the exact time when he was dismissed in the 2019 World Cup semi-final, his last innings for India — Dhoni bid goodbye to a glittering career that has seen him become India's most successful captain with victory in the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 World Cup, and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.
When the young lad from Ranchi played his first International match in 2004, few would have thought of him as capable of achieving all that he did. The long-haired Dhoni was out for a golden duck on his India debut and scored just 22 runs off his next three innings. However, a blistering 148 against Pakistan at Vishakapatnam in 2005 sealed his place and since then there was no looking back, either with the bat or with the wicket-keeping gloves.
The sheer excitement and sense of anticipation that Dhoni brought when he was at the crease with the bat has few peers in the game. No match was lost as long as he was still around. A zen-like mind ensured that even in the toughest of crisis, ‘Captain Cool’ hardly ever lost his composure. His ability to consistently win matches for his team in the limited overs format as a finisher led to the oft-quoted compliment that if Dhoni batted till the end his team would win. His ability to treat triumph and disaster just the same, both of which he saw plenty of as India's captain, was integral to the making of the legend.
Dhoni did have his share of controversies. The manner of exit of several senior players including the likes of Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag during his tenure at the helm did lead to accusations that Dhoni may not have been keen to have them continue. Similarly his silence on the Chennai Super Kings betting scandal which led to the suspension of the team saw Dhoni being accused of not speaking up and remaining loyal to his mentor of sorts, N Srinivasan. Also his sports management company was never short of charges of conflict of interest.
Very little of all this mattered to the fans. To them he was their talismanic captain for whom impossible was nothing. The fact that he had a steady head on his shoulders endeared him to fans around the world. Among international cricketers he won universal respect as one of the finest readers of the game and as one who played the game in its true spirit.
It is perhaps a curse that Indian cricket’s brightest stars often do not get the farewell they truly deserve. With the sole exception of Sachin Tendulkar, most of our greats starting from Kapil Dev have bowed out without an opportunity to say goodbye. So too it has been with Dhoni.
After the 2019 World Cup, when it was widely felt that Dhoni was unable to force the pace of scoring like he used to in the past, the murmurs about retirement got louder than they were earlier. He then took a break making himself unavailable for the next few months and after that the call to return never came.
Dhoni may have been hoping for one last hurrah in the T20 World Cup scheduled to have been held in Australia later this year. With the news coming in of its postponement it seemed almost a foregone conclusion that we would not see Dhoni in the blue jersey again.
Dhoni will continue to lead the Chennai Super Kings in the forthcoming edition of the IPL to be held in the UAE. He also has an invitation to play in the ‘Hundred’ — the new 100-ball format of the game to be held in England next summer. With his current level of fitness he should be able to carry on playing at least until the end of next year. That is, if he wants to.
There is also the hope that Dhoni will continue his association with Indian cricket either as a coach, mentor or as an administrator. Whether he would want to step into the cesspool that is the BCCI is not as yet known.
As he bids adieu, Mahendra Singh Dhoni leaves a legacy that is far bigger than the glittering trophies he won and the statistics he has to show, can ever do justice to. Perhaps his biggest legacy is that he gave thousands of young cricketers in numerous small towns across India the strength to dream and the belief that the dream could become a reality. An all-time great of the modern game has walked into the sunset. The cricketing world will wish him well, with gratitude.
Sumanth Raman is a Chennai-based television anchor and political analyst. Views are personal.
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