India’s Captain Cool will not be directing the team in one-day and Twenty20 internationals anymore.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision came at the right time. With all the euphoria surrounding India’s grand run in the home Tests there were murmurs that Virat Kohli should take over as captain in the other formats.
At 35, Dhoni’s shelf life was diminishing. Playing cricket day in and day out takes its toll. The slowdown was visible during the recent series against New Zealand.
Questions were raised about his tactics. The fickle-minded fans and critics change their loyalties like politicians. Why give them a chance?Nobody can doubt the integrity of the man lovingly called Mahi. He always played for the team and did not care about personal achievements.
Dhoni was blessed with the magic touch. He wasn’t the traditional sort of captain whose responses to situations went by the book.
He would set up traps with strange fielding positions or make an unexpected bowling change to startle the opposition. It almost always worked.
There was a sort of dynamism rarely seen in Indian cricket. What made Dhoni more special was that he pulled off victories with his own bat. He was the world’s best finisher of a game in both one-dayers and T20s. He read the game so well that he could produce sixes at the right time and pace his innings perfectly. There were times when the target looked impossible. But Dhoni’s bat had an answer to it.
And the helicopter shot came out of nowhere to change the game.
He would be flexible and move himself up and down the order to suit the situation.
What made Dhoni special was that he backed his players to the hilt. He got the best out of them by supporting them during their bad period. Players like Rohit Sharma must be eternally grateful to him. Loyalty became the mantra of the team.
One of Dhoni’s biggest contribution to Indian cricket is the improvement in the running between the wickets. Being one of the fastest in this aspect of the game, his influence rubbed off on others. The gentle ambles of yore turned into frenzied gallops and this benefitted India immensely in the shorter formats.
There is absolutely no doubt that Dhoni’s contribution to Indian cricket has been monumental.
The record books reveal the tales of his success. He won the World Cup, the T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy. He was India’s most successful captain without doubt.
But Dhoni’s did much more than that. The new breed of Indian cricketers, which came to being under Saurav Ganguly, was polished and displayed by Dhoni. He brought clarity of thinking and abundant aggression to the Indian team. And like the great director, Alfred Hitchcock, always the unexpected.
India cricket owes a lot to this man. And they better appreciate it.
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