MS Dhoni: The Legend
Mahendra Singh Dhoni retired from all forms of international cricket on 15th August and with this, an era of Indian Cricket ended. A young boy with long flowing hair came to the international stage and took the cricketing world by storm with his unorthodox but brutal batting style. After sometime the world realized exceptional power hitting was only one of his strengths. India found in him a wicketkeeper that it had been looking for since ages and once in a generation cricketing mind whose planning and strategies were something totally new for Indian fans, and he did all these without a hint of over excitement or stress on his face. Captain cool is not just a nickname for him, it has become a yardstick, a goal for leaders across all walks of life.
while there are millions of die-hard fans across the globe, this is a still tricky statement to make especially in the light of last 2-3 years of his career when he clearly seemed to have lost his 'mojo' and India has found a new youth icon in Virat Kohli- one of the all time best batsman who like Dhoni, has managed to spread his influence for far wider than just cricket.
There are multiple reasons why MSD is my favorite cricketer. One of them is that I have been a witness to his entire international career from the start- unlike players like Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly, who already have giants of the field by the time I started understanding cricket properly. I have seen him grow from a pinch hitter to a cool captain who took amazingly brave calls on the field. Another reason is what a complete player he is. Sachin could never juggle batting and captaincy together. Ganguly is always known more for his captaincy than batting. Kohli is yet to make a proper mark as a captain. Dhoni aced all tests when it came to captaincy - win record across formats, series win, major tournament wins, you name it. And he did all that while being the best Indian keeper ever. No one will forget him running the Bangladesh player out without even looking at the stumps. The best finisher of the game the world have ever seen.
