THE ICE CAPTAIN

 Author- Sarvesh Bhadekar - 2111.

THE ICE CAPTAIN OF INDIA

    "Dhoni finishes off in the style India lifts the world cup after 28 years. The party started in the dressing room. And it’s an Indian captain, who’s been absolutely magnificent, on the night of the final."

-Ravi Shastri

"May I congratulate Dhoni for being the architect of the victory and I have a black eye asking you to have a haircut but if you want to take my opinion you look good in this haircut don't have a haircut."

-Parvez Musharraf

"I would even love to go to war with Ms Dhoni."

-Gary Kirsten

2007, 2011, 2013 the 3 ICC events which was led by ms dhoni for the first time in which, he not only led the team but also ended up winning hearts of the Indians as well as the Trophies. He's the first batsman in the ODIs who scored 10,000+ runs even at the position of 5th or 6th with a good average of 50.6. Hailing from Jharkhand, Ms Dhoni's rise through the ranks into international cricket is a tale of rebellion, extraordinary merit, perseverance, and most of all, belief. Dhoni looks unorthodox at the crease, but he gets back and across. Instead of punching with his fore-arms, he bludgeons it with his wrists, with a low back-lift, ensuring that he plays it late. Most importantly, he has a still head while perceiving the line of the ball and at the point of contact. He also has an open stance allowing him to pull easily by getting to the back-foot early. 

CAPTAINCY ERA BEGINS:-

With a mature head on his shoulders and an astute and shrewd cricketing mind, Dhoni was recommended by senior players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid for captaincy after Rahul Dravid stepped down as skipper.

On his first assignment in the inaugural T20 WC in 2007, Dhoni and his young troops romped to the title in a shock victory for the inexperienced Indian side, bringing about the T20 revolution in India. Dhoni's calm and composed leadership was widely lauded in the cricketing fraternity after India brought the trophy home, earning him the label of ‘Captain Cool’. He was soon handed the ODI leadership as a natural move after his T20 WC triumph, and after the retirement of Anil Kumble in late 2008, the Test leadership was thrust upon him too.

India may have gained a great captain, but they’ve lost a fearsome hitter’, remarked Harsha Bhogle after Dhoni was handed the reigns of the side. It was true. At first, it did look like India had lost an important asset in Dhoni’s explosive batting. However, over the years, Dhoni delivered performances with his new reserved approach and developed the ability to move in and out of his rampage zone. He had inherited the good qualities of his accomplished seniors in the team - carving his game as per the requirement of the team. Dhoni continued to garner praise for his success across formats; especially for his clinical success in limited-overs cricket, reaching the pinnacle of his captaincy career during India's path to glory in the 2011 World Cup. Dhoni went through a rough face with bat in the whole world cup Dhoni peaked at the right time, exhibiting his usual sangfroid on the way to 91* in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka, and lofted an iconic six over long-on, triggering night-long celebrations all over Mumbai and the rest of India. He went to Gary and uttered this words "If the wicket goes down i should go in" he went ahead to bat instead of Yuvraj singh who was nominee of Player of the Series who was in his prime zone. 

TRANSITION PHASE:-

The transition phase in Indian cricket saw the famed batting line-up failing to meet their lofty standards, and a rather raw bowling fast-bowling line-up with negligible experience struggling, as Zaheer Khan suffering from a long-term injury.

There was only so much Dhoni could do...

However, after taking some tough selection calls, Dhoni led the way in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a marathon 224 in Chennai, setting the platform for a clean-sweep of Australia at home, clinically blanking them to regain the trophy. India became the first team in more than 40 years to whitewash Australia in a Test series and Dhoni now had the most Test wins for an Indian captain under his belt. 

REDEMPTION PHASE:-

After rebuilding the ODI side and phasing out the seniors, Dhoni had a fine run as captain in 2013, leading India to their second Champions Trophy triumph as they cruised to the title undefeated, providing a welcome distraction from the IPL spot-fixing controversy. This made him the first captain in history to win all three ICC global trophies, etching his name in the history books with an unprecedented record and an enviable trophy cabinet as a limited-overs captain.

He led the side to the final of the 2014 T20 WC in Bangladesh, in which India lost to Sri Lanka in the final, and the semi-final of the T20 WC in 2016 in India. Dhoni also is the captain of Chennai franchise, one of the most successful teams in the history of Indian Premier League, which won back-to-back titles in the years 2010 and 2011 and also the Champions League T20 in the years 2010 and 2014. 

END OF AN ERA:-

The 2019 World Cup, perceived to be Dhoni's last, didn't really go according to plan although he endured a decent tournament. In the semifinal, he along with Ravindra Jadeja were the only men who showed fight but the finisher wasn't able to finish off the chase. He surprisingly announced his retirement through Instagram on 15th of August 2020. That this 19:29 hrs would consider me as "RETIRED". But this man led the team towards progress and towards the ultimate aim of success. Of course Dhoni is the one of the most successful, calm headed and was the one who silently earned his name. 

     "Mein Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hu"