“Kyu sochna hai jana kaha, jaaye wahi le jaaye jahan Besabriyaan”. Lines from the movie M.S.Dhoni – The untold story, which itself defines the individual on which the song has picturized. Yes, the former captain cool of Indian cricket team- Mahender Singh Dhoni.
From Ranchi’s lane to the National stadium to leading the Indian Cricket Team in international cricket, the man completed his journey, which is an aspiration for many young Indian boys. How easily we sum up his life in 2/3/4 page, but he only knows how difficult the path was to reach where he is now. He is not famous for his captain calm behaviour, but he is renowned for many other things, like keeping the calm on-field and off-field, balancing life personal and professional, and love for bikes and dogs.
CRICKET LIFE
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, aka Mahi is celebrating his 39th birthday today. In his career, Dhoni has left a mark in the cricket world that will be remembered for years. Dhoni has played 90 Tests in which he scored 4,876 runs keeping an average of 38.09 and has played 350 ODIs in which he has scored 10,773 runs at an average of 50.57.
While Dhoni faced many hurdles in starting his career, his will power made him enter the Indian Cricket team, and he showcased his talent to the world by making 148 against Pakistan in Vizag in 2005. Year by year with his strong stands as a cricket player, Dhoni was given a chance to lead India in the inaugural 2007 T20I World Cup, where he led a team of youngsters to the trophy removing all the odds.
Personal Life
From various interviews with his wife Sakshi Dhoni, parents, friends, and relatives, they all unanimously say he is indeed cool on and off the field. He has mastered his patience in keeping the pace of life and reciting the mantra that he wants to get known for being a good human, not a good cricketer. The Untold Story screened everything about his life from early childhood to his days with the Indian cricket team.
Why, Captain Cool?
In the field of cricket, a single step can affect the course of the game to the career of the player. From a no-ball to a wrong call to wrong guidance, the batsman can change the field norms and win and lose chances. However, when these decisions are taken with the right set of vision and determination, they can make all the difference between winning and losing the game. This is what the Indian cricket team’s former captain, M.S. Dhoni, is famous for taking match-winning decisions, and he proved it many times. Let’s examine some of these events where he showed his tag of ‘CAPTAIN COOL.’
1. Match: 2014, 2nd Test match, England v/s India
On the last day of the game, Dhoni asked Ishant Sharma to bowl bodyline deliveries to the English batsmen. He created the ploy, and it worked.
2. Match: 2011, World Cup Final, India v/s Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka gave India a 274 score to grab the trophy. When the whole nation was in the dilemma of losing and winning, Mahi came in at number 5 instead of Yuvraj Singh, a move that raised a lot of questions and criticism. However, 79 balls later, he changed the perception and created history by hitting a match-winning six over long-on and proved himself right again without losing the calm.
3. Match: 2016, T20 group stage match, India v/s Bangladesh
The exciting game of 2016, where Bangladesh needed 11 runs to win in the last over. After a couple of boundaries, they required just two off the last ball. Dhoni spoke to Hardik Pandya and asked him to bowl a “back-of-length” delivery. Might be he can read a player’s mind or his dedication towards his profession that he was aware of the fact that the batsman will anyway scamper for a single. He decided to remove one of his gloves beforehand. What was the result? The stadium echoed with an India-India voice.
4.Match: 2011, 2nd test, England v/s India
Before the stroke, Eoin Morgan had flicked the ball down the leg side, and while fielding, Praveen Kumar tumbled and somehow managed to stop the ball going over the boundary. The batsmen succeeded in taking three runs. The two batsmen went out from their crease and started to chat; during this, the Indian wicketkeeper Abhinav Mukund collected the ball from the fielder and took the bails off to dismiss the Bell. Initially given out, Bell was recalled by our captain courageous after lunch as he figured out that this decision might not go down well in the spirit of the game. Even in this panic situation, he proved himself right with honesty and integrity.
5.Match: 2015, ICC World Cup group stage match India v/s Pakistan
Team India was pumped up for this match because it was with Pakistan. How much ever we lie about it, but we enjoy the game India v/s Pakistan the most. At that time, the record of being unbeaten against Pakistan in World Cups was on the line. Any other captain would have gone according to a set plan and made no changes to it for keeping the risk factor low and winning factor high. But Dhoni, took a risky yet smart decision of promoting Raina up in the batting order. The left-hander didn’t disappoint him and made a worthy contribution of 74 runs to the total.
There are many more instances that we can recall to see the cool captain calm and smart decisions. Let’s wish a good, healthy, and prosperous life for Dhoni by wishing him A Very Happy 39th Birthday.
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