MS Dhoni - Divided opinions but a Legend to most

Image source: Punekarnews

"The three cannot play together, it will affect the fielding" - MS Dhoni was referring to the trio of Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, in the 2012 tour of Australia, when India adopted a rotation policy amongst openers in ODIs. Even for someone not know to mince words, its a bold statement - considering the emotional population in India, not withstanding how the media blows things out of proportion regularly.

A lot has been spoken about the World Cups won under MS Dhoni's captaincy. T20 2007 and the WC 2011 - iconic moments in Indian Cricket history, without a doubt. However, the CB Series triumph in Australia 2008 was a perfect testament to his backing the youngsters so profoundly, while having the right balance of experienced cricketers.

I am a big advocate of Tamilnadu cricket. For various reasons, we have not seen a great number of players from TN representing India. This prompted me to pray for anyone who made their way into the team, to have a long run. In 2004, it was Dinesh Karthik who got the opportunity as India's Wicket keeper. With better application and luck, he could have nailed his position - not to be. I have to shamefully admit, when Dhoni was selected in the later part of 2004, I wanted him to fail, so that DK would get the opportunity again. Looking back, it would have been disastrous had he failed. Indian Cricket needed MS Dhoni and moreso, the Indian Cricket fans. A career I wanted to end before it started, quickly turned into a career I wanted to go on forever.

MS Dhoni comes across as a proud Indian. Anyone who claims he put his own interest ahead of the country's, he performed only in Yellow etc - either didn't know their Cricket or is someone who loves to criticise as much as they loved a good breakfast. Known to always keep his emotions under control, only on a couple of occasions did MS Dhoni look extremely shattered - just after the world cup exits in 2015 and 2019. He wanted to win them for the Nation again so desperately, having seen the amount of joy the 2011 World Cup generated. I personally wanted him to win the cup last July, because of how driven he was in 2016, quite literally challenging a curious journalist.

MSD made us believe "No match is won or lost until the last ball is bowled". He taught us "Hang on till the end - if you don't break yourself, the opposition will". He never went overboard with success, neither did he become deflated with defeats. Not because he didn't care, he simply understood the ups and downs of the sport, like very few others did.

You can get much more aesthetically pleasing batsmen, wicket keepers who could leap horizontally till the 2nd slip fieldsman and take blinders, more astute captains who can create winning teams in all formats of the team - but to get a complete package like MS Dhoni, we would need to wait for a few decades, without guarantees. The charisma, the athleticism, the lightning quick hands, the calmness, the trust he placed on his team, the respect he earned word over, the way he saw things ahead, his ability to change his style as he grew old, the box of surprises he had at his disposal and a lot of other attributes make it impossible for World Cricket not to miss the legend called Mahendra Singh Dhoni. 

I feel blessed to have been one of his biggest fans, fighting it out with a lot of people in his defence. I will continue to do so! Thank you MS for all the memories. The journey from a small town to superstar status was a beautiful one. Your legacy will live on and you have inspired enough people to try and emulate your heroics!

Picture courtesy - theweek.in