MS DHONI Profile View :
Barring Sachin
Tendulkar, MS Dhoni is arguably the most popular and definitely the most
scrutinised cricketer from India. He has done so coming from the cricketing
backwaters, the mining state of Jharkhand, and through a home-made batting and
wicketkeeping technique, and a style of captaincy that scales the highs and
lows of both conservatism and unorthodoxy. Under Dhoni's captaincy, India have
won the top prize in all formats: the No.1 Test ranking for 18 months starting
December 2009, the 50-over World Cup in 2011 and the World Twenty20 on his
captaincy debut in 2007.
Dhoni, then a ticket
inspector with the Indian Railways, had escaped all attention bar the odd
whisper among the followers of club cricket in Kolkata until he was 23 when he
blasted two centuries in a triangular 50-over tournament for India A in Nairobi
in 2004. Long-haired and fearless, he soon swaggered into international
cricket, and became an instant darling of the crowds with ODI innings of 148
and 183 within a year of his debut.
Dhoni demonstrated all
that was right with the new middle-class India. He didn't respect reputations,
but never disrespected. He improvised, he learned, but didn't make an apology
about his batting style, which was not the most elegant. He still batted with
low, hockey hands, he still didn't look elegant but became a multi-faceted ODI
batsman, one who could accumulate, one who could rebuild, and one who could
still unleash those big sixes.
Along the way Dhoni
showed leadership skills, which were recognised when Rahul Dravid gave up
captaincy in 2007. Just before that announcement from Dravid, Dhoni had taken a
bunch of kids to South Africa and was leading India to a World Cup win in a
format the country didn't even take seriously. The ODI captaincy was natural
progression, and Anil Kumble just kept the seat warm in Tests for a year.
Dhoni brought to
captaincy a thick skin and relative indifference to results that an Indian
captain needs to keep the job for long. Along with coach Gary Kirsten, he put
his senior performers in a comfortable place, and they returned the favour with
some of their best years in international cricket. His calmness on the field
helped and worked like a charm in the shorter formats, although tactically he
sometimes sat back for too long in Tests. All that can't argue against the fact
that India had some of their best years in Test cricket, in terms of tangible
achievement, under Dhoni, and that Dhoni has for years been among the best few
ODI batsmen in the world.
However, post the
50-over World Cup win in 2011, which Dhoni sealed with a timely 91 and his
patented helicopter shot, reality struck, and an ageing team kept losing in
unfamiliar conditions. After eight straight Test losses away from home, Dhoni
the captain came under immense pressure, which was accentuated by a 2-1 home
series loss to England in 2012-13, the first time India had lost at home in
more than eight years. This brought out a new chapter in Dhoni's career wherein
he seemed more assertive as a captain, started building a new team, played his
best Test innings on a turner to win India the Chennai Test against Australia,
and became the first captain to lead India to win four wins in a series.
Sterner tests waited.
Having surpassed
Tendulkar as the highest-earning Indian sportsman, Dhoni remains the
advertiser's dream and a poster boy for modern-day India, but off the field, he
has seldom courted attention or publicity.
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