CAPTAIN COOL : JOURNEY OF A RANCHI BOY WHO CONQUERED THE WORLD









Mahendra Singh Dhoni comes from a small family from Ranchi. Much like his idol Sachin, he has had a middle-class upbringing. However, unlike Sachin's early success, the Ranchi boy had to grind it out for 5 years in the domestic circuit before getting the national selectors' attention. He worked as a TC in his early years, but due to lack of focus, he decided to quit the job and pursue cricket as a primary goal in life, much against his family's wish. On the back of a successful domestic season, he was selected for India A for a tri series in Kenya, also involving Pakistan A. A couple of centuries there meant that he was picked for a Bangladesh series in December 2004, and there began a wonderful journey of this boy from Ranchi.



Writing about MS Dhoni is a three dimensional task; one needs to write about Dhoni the wicket keeper, Dhoni the finisher, and Dhoni the captain.

















The first aspect of Dhoni's career is wicketkeeping. It was the base upon which his place in the team was sealed, as it was a time when finding a good consistent keeper in India was a Herculean task. When Dhoni made his debut in 2004, he was the 12th keeper to be tried out in 5 years. This issue, however, was sorted, thanks to Dhoni's safe, and occasionally spectacular wicketkeeping. His skills behind the stumps have always been good, and they have improved drastically in recent years. His stumping skills have rocketed as well, with most of his stumpings being accurate and perfectly-timed. With the advent of wrist spinners increasing, his keeping skills have managed to provide an X-factor to the team.













The second aspect is his finisher's tag. His clean striking and fearless approach helped him become a world class finisher, probably the best in the world. The early stages of Dhoni's career saw him bat higher up the order. But, with the rise of many dependable middle-order batsmen, he was demoted to number 6, sometimes even number 7, and that was when he worked on his finishing skills. There have been numerous instances of Dhoni finishing close matches for India, and that is one of the reasons for India's meteoric rise as an ODI side in the last 10-15 years. Dhoni's speciality is that he takes the game till the very end, instead of trying to wrap it up hastily and losing his wicket. This, in turn, increases a lot of pressure on both, him as well the bowler, and those are the situations when his cool head helps him thrive much better. This aspect of his kept improving as his career went on, and the pinnacle of his glory was the match-winning knock of 91* in the World Cup 2011 Final.









The third, and most important aspect, is his captaincy. Dhoni had never been a captain at any level - be it school, district or state. Yet, when he was summoned to lead the team for the World T20 2007, he took to captaincy like a duck to water.













Dhoni is by far one of the best ODI captains ever. He believes in every player, and provides ample opportunities to everyone to prove their game and refine their skills. He also prefers to prioritize talent and form over experience. Giving Joginder Sharma the last over ahead of Harbhajan Singh in the final of the World T20 2007 validates the same. He has also had a special relationship with fast bowlers. Be it Manpreet Gony (2008), Mohit Sharma (2013) and Deepak Chahar (2018) for CSK in the IPL, or Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar in the 2008 CB tri series in Australia, he has always believed in seam bowling.

When an announcement was made last year, that Dhoni the captain would no longer be seen in Indian colours - a captain who led India to the number 1 spot in Tests, and the only captain to win all ICC trophies - it came as a shock to all his fans around the world. Hence, the sight of MS Dhoni walking out for the toss in this year's IPL in his yellow jersey was cheered and supported by all. He did not disappoint there either, leading CSK to their 3rd IPL title.













Three major reasons that the 'invincible' Australian team in the 2000s thrived so well was they had one of the best captains in Ricky Ponting, a fabulous keeper in Adam Gilchrist, and a dependable finisher in Michael Bevan. India are extremely lucky to have found a player who fits in all three roles to perfection. This legendary captain, who put the small city of Ranchi on the world map, never let the success get to his head. Whenever someone praises the efforts he has put in for the national team, he just smiles and calmly says, "I am the same boy from Ranchi." A very happy birthday to 'Captain Cool', the man who inspired hundreds of young players from the smaller towns in India to give their best and fulfill the dream of playing for the national team.





















It was 23rd June 2013. England and India were battling it out for the Champions Trophy crown, in a rain-shortened 20-overs-a-side match. It all came down to England needing 6 runs off 1 ball, with English number 10 James Tredwell facing R Ashwin. He missed the hit, and even though MS Dhoni couldn't collect the ball cleanly, the Indian captain jumped up and down in joy. It was rare to see him celebrate in such a joyous manner. It was the first time that 'Captain Cool' let out his emotions, and probably the last, too.