With the 1st ODI today, it is a
new beginning in Indian Cricket and at the same time end of an era of captaincy. Calling 8 years of Dhoni’s captaincy an ‘era’
may sound little exaggerated, but not really if you look at India’s
achievements during this period. Though I have not been a big fan of Dhoni, one
will have to admire his achievements as a player, captain and an ambassador of
the game. He has played all these roles
to near perfection, more so as a captain and a one day batsman.
As a batsman he made his mark with his explosive
batting when he came in. That itself was an achievement given the explosiveness
the Indian batting line already had. With the likes of Shewag, Sachin,Ganguly, Dravid, Yuvaraj
any new comer wold have been overawed, but not Dhoni. Getting elevated to
captaincy of T20 team overtaking almost a dozen other senior players, he won it
with his cool head. Could you imagine any other conservative captain giving the
last over of the finals to someone like Joginder Sharma?
Dhoni displayed that kind of ‘Street
smartness’ during his entire captaincy, with success most of the times and
failures in between. We who had played Tennis ball cricket all along, always
found the leather ball cricket a total different ball game. Players like Dhoni
bridged the gap between street cricket and professional cricket with a fresh
approach to batting and captaincy. We could see lot of tennis ball batting
shots played by him on international stage without any inhibitions. I think
that is what has made Dhoni so popular with the masses along with the likes of
other greats of Indian Cricket.
Players like Dhoni also conveyed
the message that India and Indian cricket is much more than the metros or the
big cities. They represented the vibrant untapped talent the smaller cities
offered. Indian Cricket really did blossom under Dhoni’s captaincy and the
brilliance and aura of Virat Kohli at present could have been the only thing
that would have diminished its effect as it has done now.
Dhoni has set high standards of
captaincy and left a legacy for the future captains to better it.
Thanks Dhoni.
