My memories with MS Dhoni

My memories with MS Dhoni :

In December 2004, during a half yearly holidays in my high school he came in as a fashionable young wicket keeper, had seen many specialist keepers come and go in that period such as Parthiv Patel, DK, Ajay Ratra, Deep Dasgupta, so was not having any awe in him and getting a run out in hurried manner wasn't an impressive first showing. Was ignorant of the facts behind then, that he came from 3 centuries with India A in Kenya.

Slowly as the days progressed, one rainy noon on the summer of April 2005, came back from an Annual exam to see India scoring more than 300 runs in the ODI against Pakistan in Vizag, from the scorecard saw that there was a change in batting order with MS Dhoni at 3 scoring 148 runs at a quick pace, but even then didn't have an awe in him.

Days progressed through 2005, near a Deepavali day I was having a holiday, there was an ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka, the series was already decided with India had won it comfortably already. In one subsequent match after series was decided in Jaipur, Sri Lanka scored 299 runs and a target of 300 was set for India. When the chase begun, Sachin Paaji got out in an earlier stage, those days when Sachin gets out people used to switch off the TV (a practice which this man changed as long as he batted in his last ODI innings), I was one among them usually, but that day destiny had made sure that I watched the full match, then walked this man at the fall of first wicket and then slowly taking on the Sri Lankan attack, it was a flamboyant innings hitting 10 sixes and scoring 183 runs with the cooperation of Venugopal Rao staying silent and talking singles, which was then and still the highest in ODI's for a wicket keeper, slowly I was starting to fall in awe with him.

Then came the phase in Indian cricket in late 2005, 2006 under Rahul Dravid, when it was a consistent chasing team in ODI's and was having a record for consecutive successive chases. Of which Yuvi and he was a significant contributing factor. It was a transition time for him when he switched from flamboyant batting style to a more measured batting style, one of those days read in Thamizh newspaper sports column that he was having some mediation practice under yoga guru, due to my ignorance and innocence then I thought it had drastically had an impact on his hitting skills.

Then came the 2007 ODI world cup suddenly had a deep disappointment of India's performance against Bangladesh in the first match and subsequently getting knocked out in the group stage itself, he had a lackluster performance in that world cup and fans were on a rage then.

Slowly as we forgot that disappointment, the 2007 T20 world cup which fans like me didn't have much expectations from the Indian side or didn't know what to expect, except that there was a new captain in him with young amd his equivalent players, with seniors stepping aside from the shorter format. Think his first match as captain against Scotland was washed off due to rain and in the next match against Pakistan there was a tie, he suprised everyone with his decision on the bowlers for the bowl out, which the team succeeded. Then there was a situation when India had to win all the games remaining to qualify for semis, thanks to the flamboyance of Yuvi, India was cruising through. On the finals against Pakistan under the tense last over, he chose to give it to Joginder Sharma which caught fans like me by surprise and caught the headlines and become a commercial story, but later only a few would know that in the Semi Finals against Australia also Joginder Sharma bowled the last over, so it was a consistent choice.

This become his turning point in his career, he had started to gain further fan following. Subsequently he was made the ODI captain. Then came the triumph of commonwealth tri series 2008 in Australia with a young side which was his overseas assignment as ODI captain, in real terms it was a significant achievement for any captain. My mutual connections with number 7 had drawn further awe towards him.

Then he was appointed as the test captain after Anil Kumble retired, his first test as captain in Kanpur against South Africa was a successful beginning. Slowly, India begun to rise in rankings in both ODI and test formats. In most of the ODI home series when the series is decided with strong performances from Senior players, the youngsters were given a chance in the last games. In test cricket, India with a formidable batting line up of the legends and compatible bowling line up for home conditions India rose to number 1 in test rankings, which stayed till August 2011.

The 2010 IPL is still living in memory, I was having my 10th standard public exam when the IPL was going through, when my exams had finised CSK had just 2 wins from 7 matches. Then the fortunes returned, in the die or do match against KXIP, was deeply having faith and praying God with hymns, he steered the side through and winning his first IPL trophy.

Then came the 2011 ODI world cup, India had a formidable batting line up with a decent bowling attack for home conditions. He led through the triumph of the dreams of many on April 2, 2011, he came to the party on finals on otherwise a dull tournament for him personally with the bat.

Then came the test series with England in their home soil, which was his first complete failure mainly due to his best bowler getting injured in the first day of a long series, his aggressive batting opener was not available till 3rd test and beginning of a defensive captaincy in test matches overseas. This was followed by another debacle in Australia since I was nearing my 12th standard public examination in 2012, didn't have access to this series. Throughout these two series, people were having a go at him as well as his fans like me, for these failures. In the 2012 commonwealth tri series came the debatable strategy of rotational opening for better fielding, without taking any credit away from the seniors, at hindsight today people can evaluate the performance of Indian opening partnerships of Rohit and Dhawan from 2013 and see through Rohit's performance as an opener in ODI's and judge it themselves. He saw the road ahead instead of only seeing the present and past glory, though it would have been a comfortable decision to continue with senior players for sometime there were some frictions then. But eventually he led through the transition without leaving the Indian cricket team much behind atleast in the shorter formats. On the contrary today Sri Lanka is still struggling to find it's feet having a sudden transition from the stalwarts to the younger generation, which by and large he successfully managed sacrificing for some short time failures. 

Then came the 2013 Champions Trophy which was the only trophy he didn't have under his name. India went was having a newer side with strong fielding aspects and a new opening combination in Rohit and Shikhar backed up Kohli in number 3. It was a game changer and is till even after 7 years, the top 3 contributing to larger success of the team in ODI's. On the day of the finals against England in June 2013 I suppose, was having my Semester 2 exam on Engineering Chemistry || and in my college hostel, those were the early days when we were transitioning from SMS based scores to online scores with smartphones were finding a feet, it was a rain curtailed match with only 20 overs and India batting first and the openers departing soon which as always been the case from there till now almost in all knockouts since then, India managed a decent 129 on the board, with the captain not contributing much to the scorers. Somehow that had complete faith that India would win the trophy, though my friends were very doubtful. During the chase, England were at one point 48-4, and after Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan steadied the ship and England was cruising through. And suddenly Ishant Sharma removed both of them in the same over and match turned, the interesting part was that his strategy to have Jadeja and Ashwin bowl in the death overs was a master stroke. And he had the remaining only trophy to his name. After then the team combination has almost been the same till date so not covering the 2015 world cup.

Slowly months and years progressed, he retired from Test Cricket in December 2014, people think it is a sudden decision, but the transition was already made, people can compare the test team of that day to today and will not find much differences in it except the captain. In his favourite format the ODI's he resigned from captaincy in early 2017, not before the core of the team been built. From 2013 Champions Trophy to till date, the team composition has almost been consistent and the era of IPL, smartphones had taken over. People claim that his finishing ability is vanishing after 2015 ODI world cup, which may be true to an extent, but with his grit, calmness and composure he gave confidence to the team.

I started following as a cricketer, but over the years he has been inspiration with his leadership, calmness and composure. The debatable part of his leadership from the other side is that he gave places for his favourite players in the side, which I request people to introspect through the next 15 to 20 years in their own lives and decide, as a part of their team and family buidling exercises, of what is important to function with unison in life and decide themselves if that is wrong or right. Though he might have called out some debatable decisions in public, the one major admiration is that for the people he takes into the side on whom he has confidence he will back him for a longer time than any captain to make sure they come successful for the team and themselves. 

Thank you MS Dhoni !