Mahendra Singh Dhoni's bildungsroman: Long-haired iconoclast to elder statesman in blink of an eye

MS Dhnoi: The elder statesman of Indian cricket

In typical Dhoni fashion, he stroked his way to a dominating 91 and finished the game off with a trademark ‘helicopter shot’ for six over the bowler’s head. Most people would have sent the man in form to try and finish the game off and hope that they won’t have much to do if anything at all. Not Dhoni. He thrives in pressure situations.

In fact, like an adventurist who enjoys it more as the conditions get more taxing, he seems to enjoy it when the situations demand an almost super-human effort. And as if winning the World Cup was something that he is used to doing as often as riding a bike, he just stayed in the background of all the celebrations leaving all others to have their moment.

In the English summer of 2011, Dhoni faced his first real test as captain. Playing against a strong England side in their home conditions, Dhoni would have wanted each and every member of his squad to be fit and in perfect condition for the series.

But, on the first morning of the first Test, India’s premier pace bowler Zaheer Khan pulled his hamstring and had to be sent home. In the second Test, India’s other premier bowler Harbhajan Singh got injured and was ruled out of the rest of the series. The third Test had more agony in store as Yuvraj Singh got injured and Gautam Gambhir suffered a head injury while attempting a catch running backwards.

India lost all the four matches and Dhoni suffered his first dose of criticism. This was followed by another 4-0 whitewash, this time at the hands of Australia. Again, Dhoni’s captaincy came under severe criticism and calls for Dhoni to be removed as India’s Test captain started emerging from certain corners. Dhoni responded by taking the responsibility of the defeats upon himself and urged his team to look forward.

Amidst all this what struck most was that a man who prefers to remain in the background when the team wins, was ready to face all sorts of questions when the team went through a rough patch. These were signs of a true leader.

In the One-Day tri-series that followed the four Tests against Australia, India lost out to Sri Lanka for a place in the finals on the head-to-head rule. But, in one of the round robin games against Sri Lanka, India were required to chase down a target of 320 in 40 overs to get ahead of their opponents on net run rate and have a shot at a place in the finals. Previous Indian teams would have pointed at the fact that India also required Australia to beat Sri Lanka for a place in the finals and would have given this game up without even putting up a fight. But the Indian team under Dhoni was different. They took the challenge and, aided by a majestic 133* by Virat Kohli, got to the target well before the specified number of overs were bowled.

Under Dhoni, India could face any challenge and, more often than not, come out triumphant. Much of it can be credited to Dhoni himself. He handles all kinds of pressure quite admirably and face up to all kinds of challenges quite courageously. That then is no surprise when the team that he leads shows similar tendencies. Dhoni changed the way Indian cricket was played.

A year later, in the early part of 2013, India returned the favour to Australia as for the first time in their history, India won four Test matches in a single series.

Dhoni set the tone for the series with a scintillating double hundred in India’s first innings in the first Test at Chennai. The match was heading towards a tame draw when Dhoni decided to intervene. He scored 224 off 265 balls to take India to a total of 570. The rate at which India scored the runs ensured that the game had a result, and India’s spinners ensured that the result was in India’s favor. After two 4-0 defeats and then losing a Test series at home to England, a draw in the first match would have suited Dhoni quite well. But he would not have been satisfied with a draw. He wanted to win.

While India’s Test team was going through a rough patch, the ODI team was firmly established as the no. 1 team in the world. And it was with this status that India entered the ICC Champions Trophy of 2013 held in England.

But there were some question marks on some aspects of Indian cricket raised by the spot-fixing revelations during the IPL. The pride and honour of Indian cricket were at stake. Dhoni and his team had a point to prove.