Thala For Many Reasons

The Legend of MS Dhoni

Hello everyone, Happy Sunday! I know it's been a minute since we last spoke at length, and while I have been struggling with ideas to talk to you about, I have also been guilty of not giving enough time to my writing? Why? Well, I do have the usual work and life stresses, but I have also spent most of my evenings playing Pickleball and/or Cricket, which easily takes 3 to 4 hours of my time. On the days I am not playing, however, I am glued to my TV screen watching the IPL. I absolutely love watching cricket in all its formats (especially test cricket, call me old school). But the IPL is special because it provides me and the rest of the country a momentary escape from life. Even during the pandemic, I opposed stopping the tournament when our country faced the worst. With all the saddening news, I feel the need to forget our worries for a bit. 

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This IPL is special because, in all likelihood, it is the last time we get to see MS Dhoni play competitive cricket. Every year, stadiums around the country are full of yellow when CSK are in town, even more so for the last five years. Since MS retired from Indian colours, the whole country has to wait for these two months a year to get a glimpse of their hero and wonder why he retired for India when he is still playing at a top level.

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Now, you may wonder what is so special about MS Dhoni retiring? Other legends have retired in the past; why even the almighty Sachin Tendulkar retired and broke a billion hearts. But while Sachin's retirement may have broken hearts, the final farewell of MSD is soul-snatching. Why does MS Dhoni command an appeal that no other player, not even Sachin, has? It doesn't matter which team is playing whom. It doesn't matter if the match is in the passionate Chinnaswamy stadium of Bangalore against King Kohli's team; all it takes is a split-second clip of Dhoni sitting in the dressing room and the stadium goes berserk. The fans (whether of Chennai or not) cheer when Chennai lose a wicket because it brings them a little bit closer to seeing MS come out to bat, and boy if he comes out to bat, the reception he gets is a sight to behold. By this final stage of his beautiful career, it has gone beyond his (immense) abilities on the cricket field; it is about coming and showering love on a man who has done so much for Indian cricket. 

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Like so many others, I have been a cricket fan all my life. I am also a passionate football fan, but football was a love I chose, whereas growing up in India, cricket chose you. I became an active fan just before Sourav Ganguly became the Indian captain, and out of that golden generation of players, including Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Kumble, etc, Dada always had a special place in my heart because it was under him that Indian cricket started winning matches and series outside of India. It was under him that, for the first time, an Indian team would stand up to their opponents; they would respond to some sledging and swashbuckling players like Yuvraj and Sehwag, and a little later, our beloved Thala appeared. Then, among other captains, Virat Kohli always had a special place in my heart. I have never enjoyed watching Test Cricket more than under VK's captaincy, who was perhaps the best captain the format ever had. The energy, aggression and passion he brought allowed India to win in Australia for the first time and dominate in England as well. Under him, for the first time, we had a pace bowling attack which could be considered the best in the world. More recently, we have seen the brilliance of Rohit Sharma's white ball captaincy with a spectacular World Cup campaign, only falling at the final step. 

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So what endears MS Dhoni to the Indian fan more than any other player, no matter how brilliant? I think, to begin with, it is his achievements. In my lifetime, the Indian cricket team has won no ICC tournament before MS and has been trying to win its first one since him. When he became the surprise choice to lead India in the inaugural ICC World T20, India was the least favourite team to win the cup. Not only had stalwarts like Sachin, Sourav, and Dravid opted out, but India had little game time in the format before the tournament, before the first year of the IPL. As India unexpectedly made it all the way to the final, the notion of MS Dhoni being 'captain cool' with ice in his veins was just beginning to take root. The final, however, would be the ultimate test of staying calm under pressure with India playing arch-rivals Pakistan, and I think we all know what happened next with Joginder Sharma and the final over. 

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Pretty soon, MS was India's all-format captain and was beginning to put his stamp on the team, with many legends, apart from Sachin, exiting the limited overs formats. I still remember India going to play a tri-series in Australia with Sri Lanka, and when India beat Australia in one of the games, MS Dhoni told his players to not celebrate too much as he didn't want this to be taken as an upset, instead he wanted to put the message out there loud and clear, India were no longer the underdogs and beating Australia in Australia should be considered business as usual. 

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It was one thing to win the T20 World Cup with no pressure on you, but to win the 50-over World Cup at home with a billion people expecting you to win was a different ball game. Yet again, India roared into the final on the back of brilliant players led by MS. Come the final, with India in a spot of bother, comes the captain to shepherd the chase and take India home along with the magnificent Gautam Gambhir. Two years later, in 2013, he took India to win the champions trophy and became the first captain to win all 3 ICC trophies. Greatness now belonged to him.

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It was not just that he won all these tournaments with India and Chennai in the IPL. It was how he did it; it was rarely ever with a team storming through, purely superior in their skill compared to the opponent. It was, more often than not, sprinkled with moments where the captain kept his cool, clearly extracted the best from his teammates, and thought out of the box. The whole of his team always was more than the sum of its parts. 

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He remains the coolest cricketer I have seen. From his long locks to his love for bikes, helicopter shots, and more. One only needs to YouTube some of his recordings from behind the stump mic such as "woh Udhar taali bajane ke liye nahi hai", "Girlfriend nahi hai wahan", or even a rare moment where he lost his cool with Manish Pandey while batting and saying to him "oh b***dike idhar dekhle" clearly annoyed with not getting an extra run, a cardinal sin while batting with MS (and Virat).  The DRS has been renamed the Dhoni Referral System because if Dhoni appeals an umpire's decision, it always proves to be the right call. 

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For a man loved and revered by a billion people, he isn't the one who stands on ceremony. He subtly announced his retirement from Test cricket during a series in Australia. He wanted to focus on his fitness to be available for ODI cricket, and more importantly, he felt it was time for Virat to take over Test captaincy ( all Indian fans are eternally grateful for the Virat test captaincy era) while still being his deputy and understudy in the white ball formats. He could be forgiven for announcing before the match that it would be his last game so that fans may show their appreciation. Similarly, the team announced that while he would continue to play white ball cricket, Virat would take over all captaincy immediately, and Dhoni clearly felt he was ready. When a player of Virat's stature always acknowledges MS's role in grooming him for captaincy, you see the man's vision. When MS finally retired from international duty, it was via an Instagram video (one of the rare times he posted) of a montage of the highs and lows of his career in the middle of the lockdown. No fuss, drama, or farewell match, just a legend quietly walking into the sunset. As this IPL draws to a conclusion, and if MS gets to play the final in Chennai, I expect a little more emotion as he always said he wants his last T20 game to be in Chennai, a city which worships him like no other, and bestowed on him the most revered title, Thala. 

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Lastly, one reason for him being so loved, apart from the ones I have mentioned, is one which often gets overlooked. He was the first person in whom we could see a little bit of ourselves. Sachin is a God, Virat is nothing short of a genius, but Dhoni is human. He is not divinely gifted with skill, what he does many think they can do. He comes from a small town and he lived the Indian dream. He did what every young boy wanted to do, what every young boy in India dreamed about, what every young boy daydreamed about every time they won a match in gully cricket. He lived the purest Indian cricketing dream. Not only did he play for India, but he also captained India. Not only did he captain India, but he also won trophies with India. He won every trophy there was to win, and through him, we won. Thala for so many reasons.