An Open Letter to MS Dhoni from a cynic

Dear Mahi,

15^th August 2020, 19:29 IST

A piece of news dropped like a bombshell that it took me a while to digest it. And that piece of news read

“Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout. From 1929 hrs consider me as Retired.”

So, no guard of honour. No farewell speech. No lap of honour around the stadium on the shoulders of your team mates. You have stumped us again, one last time.

It was a news that I had least expected Mahi. The 13th edition of the IPL was coming up, and we as Indian fans had started discussing the prospects of our favourite teams’ chances of winning the tournament. And all of a sudden, the news of your retirement hit us like a shock wave.

I have never been your fan

Let me confess one thing to you Mahi. For a majority of your career I have never been your fan. And, from the time you lead India in the 2007 T20 World Cup, you shot into the limelight. The T20 World Cup triumph in 2007 put you in the spot light, you throwing the ball to Joginder Sharma became a part of Indian folklore.

Yuvraj’s blazing form through the tournament became secondary, Gautam Gambhir’s scintillating effort in the final was reduced to the back ground. And, the only thing that hogged the limelight was you throwing the ball to Joginder Sharma.

Now, let me fast forward to the other triumph that made you the darling of the nation. That six you hit on the night of 2^nd April 2011 will be talked about with a sense of pride and all of us get teary eyed when we see that iconic six from your willow. But then, I felt that Gambhir was the architect behind that chase and that he never got the credit that he deserved.

The dropping of senior players

And then came that 2012 CB series where you subjected Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir to a rotational policy to accommodate a youngster in the side. That pained me Mahi. I had grown up watching the likes of Sehwag and Tendulkar demolish bowling attacks for a whole decade, and to suddenly see them subject to a treatment like this was tough for me to digest.

The decision to quit captaincy and the waning of your powers

Then came that January morning in 2017 when you told the world that you were quitting as the captain of the side. Probably after almost a decade of attending innumerable press conferences, and worrying about team combinations had got to you. And perhaps, you felt that there should be sufficient time given for Virat Kohli to get accustomed to the role of captain with the World Cup a couple of years away.

It was also around that time that your famed finishing powers slowly started dwindling. Pacing the innings to the requirements of a game became a lot more difficult for you, and clearing the fence was much tougher than it was in your prime.

That run out that made a billion eyes moist

And then came that fateful moment on July 10^th  2019. It still makes me teary eyed when I feel that literally ‘one inch’ was the distance between victory and defeat for us on that fateful day. You had brought us so close, but then, one throw changed the fate of our side when it mattered the most.

As you walked away with your head bent low, there was a tear drop that trickled down from my eye. At the age of 38, you had given your everything to help us win the game in your final attempt at World Cup glory, but still fate had other plans. And for a man who had never expressed his emotions, seeing you almost teary eyed on that day made our eyes moist as well.

And then recently, you even quipped “I should have dived.”

Probably that run out still rankles with you.

You see Mahi. I have wasted 16 years, failing to understand the enigma that you are. I have failed to bask in the glory of your captaincy, the lightning quick stumpings behind the wicket, and those innumerable last ball finishes that you took us through.

So, you will not don the blues anymore.

Right?

One last chance for me

But then Mahi, I still have one last chance to make up for all the lost opportunities. In a few weeks time, you will don the yellow and walk back to the field leading the lions from Chennai. And on this occasion, I will cheer every lightning quick stumping of yours, I will cry my heart out when that helicopter lands in the stands in the UAE, and will bask in the glory of your uncertainty.

And trust me Mahi, I will not let this last chance slip away.

Yours truly,

A Cynic