Those outrageously dramatic last over finishes made him an undisputed monarch of Indian cricket. Dhoni led India 199 times in ODIs with the same level of calmness and dignity on the field.
Any of you remember the Mahendra Singh Dhoni from the ICC World T20 2007? In case you don’t remember, let us take a walk back down the memory lane. From handing the last over to an inexperienced Joginder Sharma in the final of the ICC World T20 2007 against Pakistan to the World Cup winning six at the Wankhede Stadium to taking off the gloves before the last ball against Bangladesh in ICC World T20 2016, MS Dhoni has given numerous moments of joy which would never fade away in the oblivion.
It was a dull sunset in Indian cricket as Mahi handed the baton of captaincy to Virat Kohli in limited over cricket as well. On one hand, Indian cricket fans are excited to see the version 2.0 of Kohli as the limited overs skipper and on the other, they are equally sad to see Dhoni removing that captain’s hat and that too quite selflessly.
He has led India 199 times in the 50-over format with the same level of calmness and dignity on the field. He was an inspiration in the dressing room itself. He silently built an army of warriors and bossed the world of cricket for 9 long years. The world is indeed going to miss those subtle mind games that Dhoni used to play to unnerve the opponents and that too from behind the stumps.
The kind of faith he showed in his team members as the captain of the ship, was itself an epitome of simplicity. Sticking to the basics and keep on marching towards the finish line even if you cannot cross it – that was MS Dhoni.
Those outrageously dramatic last over finishes made him an undisputed monarch of Indian cricket. As Ian Botham had once said when Dhoni is at the crease in the last over it is bowler who feels the chill down his spine and not the skipper, who leads from the front.
Towards the end, Dhoni seemed to have been losing his steam and he did not procrastinate his decision any further. He chose to hang his captain’s boots and made way for Kohli to take over the reins in limited over formats as well.
Dhoni’s suave nature as the skipper of the Indian cricket team will be missed and quite rightly so for what he has done for the game in this country. Now we are waiting eagerly to see Mahi to play under Kohli, who once was a rising talent back then.
Dhoni just walked away from the captaincy duties with no fuss at all. Thank you MS Dhoni!
