T20 WORLD CUP

What does MS Dhoni mean to Indian cricket?

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Dhoni's batting, his keeping, his leadership, all were exemplary during the game against Bangladesh © Cricbuzz

Over 19.6: Batting first, India have not recovered from a slow first ten overs and are set for a below-par total. It is the last ball of the innings and MS Dhoni digs out a yorker from Mustafizur Rahman and hits it to long on. Then he runs. R Ashwin crosses over and doesn't think he can go back. He says no, but his partner doesn't care. He is coming back for the second run; he always had two on his mind.

Dhoni runs the first hard, the second one even harder. He is quick, an understatement. He is fit enough rather, with those bulky pads not providing any resistance. He zips through, almost leaving a blazing trail on the pitch. He has a superpower, this man. Is he The Flash dressed up in blue?

Over 9.3: The Bangladesh chase is on. India are fast running out of spinners. Dhoni brings in Suresh Raina to bowl. He bowls down leg, but Sabbir Rahman goes for a flick. In the blink of an eye, the bails light up. Another quick stumping, not many batsmen survive those.

The replay is excruciatingly slow. Rahman's feet are out of the crease, in the air, just as Dhoni takes off the bails. He had waited for him to move out of safety. The key, though, was grabbing the ball going down leg, stretching out, using his reach to collect the ball. Almost like a net shot out from his gloves, caught the ball and swung back to break the stumps in a flash of red. He is Spiderman.

Over 19.6: Once again, the last ball of an innings. This time two runs are needed. From an Indian point of view, even the one run that could bring on a Super Over could be potentially lethal. Dhoni takes off his glove.

He anticipates a dot delivery, but fears that single run. Play and miss; the batsmen run, he runs too. The ball is in his ungloved hand, and it is not a simple matter of how quick you are. Instead, are you quicker than your opponent?

Dhoni is. Stumps are broken; India wins by 1 run amidst another flash of red. It must be his cape, invisible. He is, he must be, Superman.

***

Superheroes are a work of fantasy, conjured up for comic books and Hollywood flicks. On the cricket field, on our television screens, Dhoni is very much real.

Now that the dust has settled, and the superlatives about Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya bowling those final overs have dried up, let it be said here that India played poorly against Bangladesh.

"I think this victory does not ease the 2007 loss," Dhoni said afterwards.

Do you remember that day from nine years ago? Watching from half a world away, how many Indians were in disbelief? Half went apoplectic, vowing never to watch cricket again. The other half cried to sleep that night.

And after all these years, India were on the brink of elimination from the World T20 in their own backyard, a tournament they started as favourites two weeks ago. If they were knocked out in Bengaluru on Wednesday, would our reaction be any different from 2007?

But India survived, making it across the finish line in a moment of madness. Nay, scratch that - India were pulled across the finish line by their mercurial skipper. And then there were the celebrations, muted at first and fierce hugs later, especially when Yuvraj Singh pulled him aside. Those two know first-hand how it felt in 2007.

Each of those three aforementioned moments were crucial. Dhoni transcended the pressure situations, his senses heightened, calculating different possibilities. His batting, his keeping, his leadership, all were exemplary on this night. How many times has he done this now, does anyone have a count?

He was a bit agitated afterwards in the press conference. It was almost similar to the one in Nagpur, when India lost to New Zealand by 47 runs. His team had played poorly there, and here again, their performance wasn't up to the mark still. Yet, this wasn't his usual trait. Perhaps the emotion of this close game got to him, much like with everyone else. Perhaps, he is human after all, and there is no greater proof.

In any given press conference, Dhoni goes about playing with humour, his words tying up the collected media personnel in knots. So, what is troubling him in this World T20? It cannot be his team's performance alone. They have been poor so far, but they are still in control of their destiny against Australia. Is it the burden of expectations, a repetition from 2011?

Or could it be the thought that this is his last chance to win a world title? Perhaps, he wants to go out on a high. Could it really be this? This isn't another discussion about the timing of his retirement. No. Instead, it is a pondering over the aftermath of that moment when it comes about in the near future.

So, sit down for a second now, and wonder silently. When that moment indeed comes upon us, when Dhoni finally departs the international scene, there will be a celebration of everything he has achieved in a glorious career. But at the same time, Indian cricket will lose someone it has not been able to quantify as yet. Maybe, that's because it still has him.

Wonder aloud now. What does Dhoni mean to Indian cricket? To you? Today, a Bangladesh fan can answer this question better. Remember the Asia Cup final, when Dhoni arrived at the crease and in two lusty blows silenced the Mirpur stadium? It was brutal force, effective in killing off the match. What would the Bangladesh team - and its fans - give to have someone like that finishing off the Bengaluru game? Indian cricket has been sitting on the happier side of this fence for more than a decade now.

There was a time when we knew how that felt, when Indian cricket was searching frantically for someone in that mould. It is not remembered easily because too many years have passed since we needed a replacement finisher. Today, we know there is one batsman who will come lower down the order and get the job done. Like it is no big deal. Like he is at a Sunday lunch buffet, while we chew our nails down.

Yet, it is important to remember that time. Indian cricket searched far and wide for its very own Adam Gilchrist and Mark Boucher, for someone who could keep wickets and not be a liability in front of them. The best man in the job for long was Nayan Mongia. He last played in 2001. Since then Rahul Dravid was forced to keep in ODIs, and many other names went on the merry-go-round in Tests before Dhoni finally showed up. How long has it been since we needed a replacement keeper?

Sure, his technique isn't the best behind the stumps. But the same faults help in affecting those lightening stumpings that appear quick even on slow-motion replays. It is an art form nobody talks about.

No one asks about the effort, and time, he puts in to stay fit. To keep wickets for as long as he has, that too across all formats. It gets lost behind how many matches he has finished, behind his press conferences as captain, and behind the umpteen controversies off the field.

Even so, his runs and stumpings can be counted. Given that he has been skipper of the Indian side for nearly a decade now, perhaps his true legacy is in terms of what the team has achieved collectively. The ICC events are the best indicator.

Before he became captain, India had one World Cup win (1983) in nine attempts. They were runners-up once, and semi-finalists twice. They were also joint winners of the Champions Trophy in 2002.

Since then, across all ICC events, India have won the 2011 World Cup, finished semi-finalists in 2015, won the 2013 Champions Trophy, won the 2007 World T20 and finished finalists in 2014. There is a consistency here. Yes, the number of ICC events has shot up in this duration, but again, this isn't about number crunching or saying that he is the greatest captain ever. Instead, this record highlights something that cannot be measured - dealing with expectations. This is about insane pressure, when you know the billion-strong fan base back home will not accept anything but a win.

Dhoni has hit upon a formula for limited-overs' success and he has kept at it, rebuilding the Indian side in that very initial mold every time. Sure, his critics will point out Test results. Maybe he shouldn't have been Test captain after 8-0 in 2011. But connect the dots between India's most successful Test side in 2010 and the excitement this current Test line-up generates. Dhoni has acted as the bridge between two eras, until the 'kids' came off age, and the timing of his Test retirement proved as much.

Jumping back to the narrative though, was that Bengaluru victory a collective measure of his success, or the success of his team that has been so carefully molded in his shadow? Perhaps it is best judged in this question asked of him, after India beat Pakistan in Kolkata for the 11th time in ICC events. He was asked what the 11-0 score-line meant to his team?

"There is pressure on us to win the next game just like there is pressure on Pakistan to break the jinx, because if it is 11-0 we are expected to win the next game too. And if we don't, (nobody will remember the past wins), and they will say, oh you didn't make it 12-0," he replied.

To be an Indian cricketer is to deal with this pressure. To score a hundred every time you go out to bat. To win, period! Anything else is hardly acceptable. Sachin Tendulkar dealt with that first sort of pressure all his life. He taught himself to be calm under this weight of expectation, and left an incalculable legacy behind.

Dhoni's inestimable legacy is that he has taught this entire Indian team to deal with that second sort of pressure. To stay calm when the run-chase gets intense, over and over again. To be a 22-year-old kid who forgets the catch he dropped and then bowls six yorkers in the 19th over. To bowl that last over, and etch the name 'Joginder Sharma' in the annals of Indian cricket forever, giving us something to cheer about in 2007.

Virat Kohli may be a good substitute for Sachin's runs. But, what is Indian cricket going to do when Dhoni leaves a gaping hole in that first-choice eleven?

Sit and wonder.

©Reuters

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