Assam State cricketer Samik Das looks back at the glorious career of MS Dhoni

August 17: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, popularly known as Mahi, the man who achieved it all & raised Indian Cricket to greater heights. Be it taking the Captain’s role in the 2007 T20 World Cup or be it coming it at No 3 against Pakistan & scoring his first 100 or hitting Aksar Patel for 2 sixes in the last 2 bowls of the over to secure a win; he has done it all in his own way.

My fond memories of Dhoni dates back to when he was playing for India A in Nairobi & smashing the bowlers of Pakistan A & Kenya all over the stadium. I fondly remember him smiling at the bowlers who would sledge him & Gambhir from the non-strikers end would shout & easily get into a argument, but Dhoni would keep his cool like always. Than comes the big debut in December 2004 after doing well in Nairobi. Dhoni comes to bat at No 7 against Bangladesh but gets run out. We would all blame Mohammad Kaif for that wrong call but Dhoni loses his wicket.

Back to July 2019 World Cup Semi final, India’s last hope Dhoni facing Ferguson of New Zealand. Dhoni flicks the ball & shouts for 2 runs. Guptill comes around & picks the ball up cleanly & throws directly into the stumps. Dhoni gets run out & India loses its hope. Could he have won us that match had he made into the crease who knows? But until he was there, like me every other Indian had their hopes high. But no one knew that would be the last time we would witness the great man walking off the ground in that Indian Jersey. So after that run out against Bangladesh, Dhoni in his next few matches could not do much & was at the edge of getting dropped soon but then Saurav Ganguly who was Team India’s captain came to his rescue.

In an earlier interview, I heard Dada saying that he always knew that Dhoni was a special talent & he would find ways to bring his talent out to the world. So in the 2nd ODI, Dada promotes Dhoni to No 3 against Pakistan & the rest is history. Dhoni smashes 148 in his signature style. The Pakistan team & the whole cricketing world witnessed some brutal hitting from this Ranchi guy. And post that, he would be doing exactly that in every other match just smash the bowlers with his power. His signature “Helicopter Shot ” was by then a rage among us all.

Dhoni who in 2008 was leading Team India in Test Matches returned this favour of Dada by letting Dada lead the team in Dada’s last test match after the post tea session. Dada did it for a brief time, but a small & sweet gesture from Dhoni. The smiles they both had in their faces showed it all. Dhoni after that smashing hundred against Pakistan in Vizag had taken world cricket by storm scoring runs, making India win in run chases, has by then become a very normal thing for him. He was popularly known as India’s Finisher.

Dhoni got selected in the 2007 World Cup squad but India got eliminated in the group stages & all the players including the greats of Indian Cricket had to face the anger of Indian fans. Posters were burnt & half constructed house of Dhoni was even hampered by the fans. Dhoni took over the captaincy from Dravid & went with a very young team for the 1st T20 World Cup held in South Africa. The tournament began with a bang as India faced Pakistan in the group match. It ended in a draw & we witnessed the first bowl out. Dhoni being a street smart cricketer chose Sehwag, Harbhajan & Uttappa to bowl the first 3 balls, whereas Pakistan went with the more recognised bowlers. Not many noticed, but Dhoni squatted behind the wickets instead of standing behind it & he specifically told his bowlers to aim at his chest instead of going for the wickets & that plan worked. We won it 3-0.

Then the fairy tale continued and we made it into the finals & were to face Pakistan again. India batted first and scored 157 & Pakistan needed 13 of the last over. Dhoni handed over the bowl to Joginder Sharma instead of an experienced Harbhajan Singh. India won the match by 5 runs. The drama that happened in that over was another story but Team India bagged the T20 World Cup.

The Midas touch of Dhoni has started. Then Dhoni took full time captaincy in all the formats & reigned as a king. India soon became No 1 Test team after a few tours. So many victories all over the world and his batting also grew stronger with time, so did his keeping. He was super-fast behind the wickets too. 2008 saw the start of Indian Premier League & Dhoni was bought by Chennai Super Kings. 2008 & 2009, both the years, CSK made it to the semifinals but couldn’t make it into the finals. In 2010, the last group match against Kings XI Punjab was played at Dharmasala. CSK had to win that match to make it into the semi-finals. It was a do or die match for them. I still remember chasing 192 runs CSK needed 16 of the final 6 balls. Irfan Pathan was bowling to Dhoni. And CSK won the match with 1 balls to spare. The rage in his eyes showed the passion he had for the team. CSK eventually lifted the IPL Trophy that year and won this tournament 2 more times & also won the Champions League too.

Then in 2011, 50 overs World Cup Tournament was held in India. We had high hopes from the team. Sachin would be playing his last World Cup & no better farewell than winning the trophy for the Legend. Dhoni had a quiet World cup with the bat, but was great with his leadership skills & also behind the wickets. But as we know,  the King rises up when the team needs him the most. It was the big final against Sri Lanka at Mumbai. Sri Lanka posted 274 and India while chasing lost 3 wickets quite early in the run chase. Dhoni came in at No 5 ahead of Yuvraj Singh who had a dream tournament with both bat & bowl. Dhoni joined Gambhir in the middle & they both started to write India’s winning story. After Gambhir got out, Dhoni along with Yuvraj took India home & India lifted the trophy after 28 years. Those words of Ravi Shastri still gives me goosebumps. Dhoni for being someone who likes to take challenges, promoted himself in the order at the right match & at the right situation, shows how courageous & a positive thinking leader he is.

Dhoni’s test career suddenly came to an end when he decided to quit during an ongoing series in Australia. He played 90 tests for Team India. Dhoni was still going strong in the limited overs format. I remember him smashing Eranga of Sri Lanka in the last over with a swollen back. India required some 20 runs with only 1 wicket in the final of the 3-nation tournament. Dhoni just smashed him with his brutal power & finished off in style. Back to 2013 Champions Trophy in England, the only ICC tournament that Dhoni had not won till then. India faced England in the finals & the match was curtailed to 20 overs as it rained heavily in the morning. India batted first & scored 129. England were crushing to victory, but Dhoni with his master plans stopped them midway. With 6 needed of the last ball & Tredwell not connecting the ball, the whole world saw Dhoni jumping with joy. His face showed his happiness. The King now had all the feathers in his hat.

A similar incident of 2016 T20 World Cup match India Vs Bangladesh. Bangladesh needed 2 runs of 3 balls & eventually needing 2 of the last ball. Dhoni got 1 of his keeping gloves off before the last ball was bowled & with the batsman unable to connect tried to take a single as bye but Dhoni collected the ball & instead of throwing directly at the stumps, ran towards him & got him run out. India finally won the match. He was such a confident person & has indeed been an inspiration for many budding cricketers who come from small towns & wanted to make it big in the world of cricket. He has injected hope into our minds & his style of play has made many unconventional players believe in their abilities.

MS Dhoni was awarded with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2007, Padma Shri in 2009 & lastly with Padma Bhushan in 2018. CSK after being suspended for 2 years in 2016 came back in 2018 with a bang. They were known as the Daddy Brigade as most of the players were in their mid 30’s but age is just a number. CSK lifted the IPL trophy again in 2018 & the most cutest thing that happened that night was when the whole team were busy posing for the picture with the trophy, Dhoni was busy playing around with his daughter Ziva behind.

Captain Cool that is what we popularly know him, but even he lost his cool during a match in IPL last year against Rajasthan Royals. After being dismissed in the run chase, Dhoni came out walking into the field after a decision was made against them & approached the umpire with the anger but later apologized during the award ceremony. These little things has always made me admire this man more & more .The man who stands up for his team never shy’s away from taking the criticism for the team. Dhoni is also the co-owner of the ISL football team Chenniyan FC & we all know how much he loves football.

During the inaugural ISL ceremony at Guwahati in 2016, first entered Sachin who co-owns Kerela Blaster & the whole stadium went Sachin Sachin. You have to hear that to understand the feeling & then came Dhoni & the same thing happened. Things like this can’t be explained, but only be witnessed & I was lucky enough to do that. Also during the 2017 India- Australia T20 series, I was one of the lucky guys to be called to bowl in the nets to both the teams & personally saw the man in front of my eyes. Though I could not bowl to him as it started raining & the practice session was called off, but the Indian players including Kohli, Pandey, Chahal, Dhoni played football & I could just see the man who lacked no loss of energy during that session. Its was my fan moment & I just went numb.

The latest memory of Dhoni playing was of the 2019 world cup semifinal. It was the last time we saw him in that Indian Jersey. I wish we all could see him play more & will definitely miss him seeing behind the stumps. Those DRS decisions which he takes that are hardly ever wrong or those savage one lines he tells to his fellow teammates that we can hear through the stump microphones, or be his super honest post-match interviews with the journalists; we will miss every bit of it.

Retirement announced through a clip with an old song in Instagram was never expected from him, but with Dhoni always expect the unexpected. As the IPL is just around the corner, we would be looking forward to watch Thala lead CSK & I hope he smashes the ball like he always does. As a cricketer, Dhoni has been a man of inspiration for me. I have learnt a lot from just seeing him play; be it playing with a cool head but a calculative one or taking the game long, no matter what the score board looks like, but backing oneself to chase it down; be his leadership qualities, the way he handles the team & the way he backs his bowlers. Thank you Mahi, that’s all I wish to say to him and we all will miss you & your jersey No 7.