MS Dhoni - The gambler who never counted his chips

’You never count your money, when you are sitting at the table. There’ll be time enough for counting when the deal is done’. Sounds like Kenny Rogers doesn’t it? But hey, when cricket comes to the fore, all of this can be thrown out of the window. And why not? After all, you read game situations as per your chips right?

Well, that was true until Indian cricket saw the arrival of a long-haired, burly young man who could finally perform the dual role of a bullish striker at any position and one who could dawn the gloves with razor-sharp reflexes behind the stumps. India had found a permanent solution to a problem that used to chivvy for a long long time.

MS Dhoni was the answer to more than a problem that started and ended in dossiers. MS Dhoni was hope and MS Dhoni became the heartbeat. If ever ‘Sachin Sachin’ was enough reverberation, ‘Dhoni Dhoni’ or even ‘EMM-ESS-DEEE…..EMM-ESS-DEEE’ was as pulsating if not more.

How did this happen? How did a nation who once said ‘Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our God’ also say ‘Sorry Sachin, but for us Dhoni is God’? How could they commit such a cardinal sin? And how did a certain MS Dhoni have ‘The God’ himself says, “Dhoni is the best captain I have played under”?

It all began when a small town boy with dreams larger than life started playing games with his own mind. It started when he believed that instincts could have the better of time-honored methods.

MS Dhoni is a cricketer who plays situations without really looking at ‘what ifs’. We seldom see players who are in their ‘zone’ all the time they walk out to the middle. Because in sport, you win some and you lose some.

When that kind of thought process sinks in, you begin to enjoy the game and never really are in pressure. ‘You win some and you lose some’ becomes a way of life. That is when you begin to appreciate the process more than the result. A belief that MS stood by throughout his career. He backed his strengths, worked on his weaknesses and took risks that could have backfired.

How else? How else can you explain the maneuver of throwing the ball to a 120 something Kmph (like Geoffery Boycott would say) doubly-doubly bowler who could be pummelled by anybody’s grand mum in a crucial WT20 final against arch-rivals Pakistan in the last over when they were going hammer and tongs? Especially when Harbhajan still could have spun a few?

How could you explain the man himself who had an indisposed campaign throughout with the bat push himself ahead of the eventual man of the series just because his instincts told him to do so? You could argue that Murali was in the attack and MSD did not want to expose the two southpaws in Yuvi and Raina to the away turning deliveries.

But remember, if the move had flopped, the entire nation would have called for MSD’s neck. Remember it was a World cup final. How else could you explain MSD’s ploy to continue with an Ishant Sharma who was lackluster in that particular CT 2013 final?

How do you have the nerve to bounce out opponents in their backyard when you know your team doesn’t have the greatest reputation at facing chin music? And when there was a counter attack, you continue with the ploy in the mecca of cricket?

How could you explain the moving around of Jadeja and Shikhar Dhawan in that crunch game against Bangladesh at deep midwicket in the WT20 2016? Or even the famous glove removal and sprint to run out Fiz (Mustafizur)? Or the last over being given to Virat Kohli in the same tournament against West Indies in a semi-final encounter defending just 8 runs?

There is an explanation for all this but only certain men justify them. Because such men come once in a generation. These are decisions taken by men who are a combination of being astute readers of the game and gamblers by instinct.

Ones who have the tenacity to back their sixth sense and ones who have the fortitude to take things on themselves when the chips are down. Because such men never count their chips! Such was one gambler called MS Dhoni who led the nation for close to a decade with utmost finesse and who never counted his chips, when they were up or when they were down.