by Shreyas S. Bhide
Initially recognized as an extravagantly flamboyant and destructive batsman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has come to be regarded as one of the coolest heads to captain the Indian ODI side.
Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, CB Series of 2007-08 and IDEA Cup India-Sri Lanka ODI Series of 2008, the first ever bilateral ODI series win of India in Sri Lanka, The Border-Gavaskar trophy 2008 against Australia and the series against England thus letting India regain its spot at No.2 in world test rankings.
Ever since Nayan Mongia was banned from playing international cricket due to match fixing charges, India had struggled to find a descent replacement. Vijay Dahiya, Ratra, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik were some of the options India tried but none could give the desired results. Such was the case that the then captain of India Sourav Ganguly had to ask Rahul Dravid to ‘pull up his gloves’ and do the job behind the wickets. That was until Dhoni arrived. He impressed one and all with his batting skills and was pretty good behind the stumps. In just his fifth one-dayer, against Pakistan at Vishakapatnam, he cracked a dazzling 148 - putting even Sehwag in the shade - and followed that up with a colossal 183 not out at Jaipur against Sri Lanka in November, when he broke Adam Gilchrist’s record for the highest score by a wicketkeeper in ODIs. He made an instant impact on the Test level too, pounding 148 at Faisalabad, in only his fifth test. He was improving as a wicket keeper though not yet to be matched up the likes of Boucher, Gichrist and Sangakarra.
Dhoni’s form dipped through 2006 as India lost matches at the ICC Champions trophy, DLF Cup, away bilateral series against West Indies and South Africa. A return to form in the home series against West Indies and SriLanka in early 2007 proved to be an inaccurate indicator of Dhoni’s form as India crashed out of the first round in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Dhoni was out for a duck in both India’s losses. After the World Cup, Dhoni won the Man of the series award in the bilateral ODI tournament against Bangladesh.
He was elevated to the vice-captaincy of the one-day squad for the tour of England and Ireland in 2007 and, soon after, was appointed captain of the Twenty20 squad for the World Championship in South Africa. The world cup triumph where he led an unknown set of young boys to victory was and still remains probably the most coveted highs of Dhoni’s career. It also marked him out as a leader for the future and was handed over the reins of the one-day side in September 2007 after Rahul Dravid decided to step down as captain. It didn’t take too long for him to enhance his reputation, claiming India’s first tri-series triumph in Australia. This was followed up with the wins in Sri Lanka (Idea Cup) and final test wins against South Africa and Australia on home soil.
Dhoni also led his IPL team Chennai Super Kings to the final of the tournament which led to a nail biting finish which Dhoni’s team lost by 1 run. M.S.Dhoni was contracted by the Chennai Super Kings for 1.5 Million USD. This made him the most expensive player in the IPL Auctions.
Dhoni has not only received praise from his team mates and the general public, but has impressed many cricketing experts and former cricketers as well. In addition to his collection of Player of the match and Player of the series trophies, Dhoni has won several other awards, which only cement his position as a youth icon. Dhoni was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country’s highest sports honour, for his contribution to India’s success in the 20-20 world championship and the 2008 Australian series. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has won the ODI Player of the Year 2008 award at the LG ICC Awards ceremony in Dubai, becoming the first Indian player to get this particular award. Dhoni beat off tough competition from team-mate Sachin Tendulkar, Australia fast bowler Nathan Bracken and Pakistan stalwart Mohammad Yusuf to take the prestigious award. Dhoni also received nomination for the inaugural International Twenty20 Performer of the Year 2008 award, for leading his team to victory at the ICC World Twenty20 2007 in South Africa. The award eventually went to colleague Yuvraj Singh. Dhoni was selected for the ICC World ODI Team of the Year 2008. Dhoni was voted as MTV Youth Icon 2006 and the amazing icon of the Pogo TV amazing kids awards.
Recently, Dhoni has been picked up by the Australian newspaper Herald Sun as a member of the world team of the year 2008 alongside Sachin Tendulkar. He will perform the role as a deputy to skipper of the team South African Graeme Smith and as a wicket keeper of the team. Dhoni has also been picked up by the Australian daily Sydney Morning Herald for the World Dream XI Test team of the year 2008. He will perform the role as a Skipper and as a wicket keeper of the team.
He was also criticized by certain sections of the media for dropping Dravid and Ganguly from the ODI team, as he took the mantle of captaining team India. His decision to drop out of Sri Lanka tour cost India dearly. Considering he was the deputy to Anil Kumble, he should have shouldered the responsibility, instead of deciding not touring the Emerald Isles.
It’s a vital leadership under which the Boys in Blue are thriving currently. If the nation dreams of bringing the next World Cup home, they have to pin hopes and encourage Dhoni and his boys.
