Hopeless - This phrase would be apt to display my state of mind most of the times when I watched Dhoni bat. It took me longer than usual to realise that he was the reason to rescue the team from such a state frequently. There were times when I badly wanted to get out. I wasn't a big fan of cricketer Dhoni. But Of late, his aura made my insight to yell at me for being a dumbass. Eventually, I ended up loving him like anything.
None would have expected the birth of a legend when a debutant with hair running down his shoulders walked into the field to get out for a duck. After all, I didn't expect. But match after match, he started growing as a star for which I felt like blaming his luck. With the unorthodox batting style, I didn't see him to win consistently. He defeated me everytime as I wanted him to fail big. I was in utter shock when the captaincy was handed over to him. Because there wasn't even a clue that the Indian team had got its best captain in the history.
Even when India had won their world cup in 2011, I was really never interested to appreciate his captaincy and the crucial knock. I was still hoping his luck would disappear some day. I always thought he was showing off as if victories were normal to him whenever his calm face was reluctant to celebrate them. But he proved me wrong again.
My attraction for him began when he actually started failing. With the word 'fail', I mean his failure as a batsman when he struggled to score even the fewest of the runs. As a cricketer and person, he was winning the hearts all the time. Little bit I knew that my heart was already in queue. I was praying for him to get out so that someone will come to make the team win. But that someone never came. People wrote off Dhoni for every defeat of the team. His calm composure was never interested to pour out any reciprocation. My heart started to groan for him.
I slowly started to cheer for the runs he scored and to get disappointed whenever he got out. Only then, I had a keen notice on the miracles he did to the team behind and the stumps ahead. He never deliberately shown the difference he made. But it was evident both when he was on and off the field.
All of a sudden,
his inelegant batting style became the most elegant thing I could witness,
his press interviews became the most insightful thing I could hear,
his selflessness became the most sensible thing I could talk about,
his leadership became the most exciting thing I could cheer about and
he became the man on whom I can be proud about.
I would call Dhoni as a magician who had mastered the acts of Pledge, turn and Prestige. He would show us something to believe, then he would make it disappear questioning our own belief and again he would come up to show what he has promised. It applies both for his whole career and the matches he play. When people were expecting his retirement to happen, he started playing like Dhoni of the old days. But now with a difference that I am loving him. A recent commentary introduced him with an apt title "Dhoni - Reborn" when he played a glorious knock. I would second that.
May he reborn again and again to wow millions like me. He continues to inspire and deserves the love that is ever multiplying.
