Dubai: Having followed Mahendra Singh Dhoni for 14 years now and reported on almost all his glorious moments, the one thing that stood out about him was his unpredictable nature.
In fact, Dhoni is as unpredictable as the game he plays so passionately.
As a captain, most of his moves on the field were unpredictable. He has repeatedly stumped people with some surprising moves, be it field placements or bowling changes. So it’s not surprising that his career moves too shocked everyone.
His 2014 decision to step down from Test captaincy was unexpected, and now he relinquishes his captaincy in limited overs too.
Dhoni plays the game to entertain, and will hold on to the captaincy only till it excites him.
Going by this trend, he is likely to hang up his bat at a time when fans least expect him to do so. He believes in giving up doing something that he does well with his head held high.
Dhoni is still India’s most successful captain and could have well remained at the helm.
Unlike Australian selectors who dare to move out their successful captain, Indian cricket selectors have never done it and are unlikely to do it too.
The uproar among fans, should Dhoni be removed by selectors, would be too loud in a country like India where everyone is passionate about the game and their heroes are virtually worshipped.
Indian selectors are very cautious and never dare to drop a successful player, even if their best years have ended.
Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev were two examples, where at one point some fans even mocked Tendulkar by calling him ‘Endulkar’.
At 35, Dhoni is still the second fittest man in the team after Kohli.
Irrespective of the conclusions drawn on Dhoni’s recent decision, what has been a strong murmur in cricketing circles is the need for Kohli to captain both the one-day and Twenty20 teams too.
Kohli is on top of the world since steering India to the No. 1 rank in Test cricket.
India is at No. 3 in the One Day International ranking and second in the Twenty20 ranking.
For Dhoni, who has guided India to two World Cup triumphs in One-day and Twenty20 formats, there is no need to once again prove that he is capable of placing the team at the top again.
So it seems best to relinquish the top job when you are known for your two World Cup triumphs rather than the one who gave up the captaincy after the team started to slip down the ranking.
Being a fighter to the core, he would hate to quit in the face of a failure.
However, it should be noted that although Dhoni rarely expresses his feelings or emotions openly like Kohli, he does get uncomfortable when questions are raised about his durability as a player.
Soon after India’s defeat to West Indies in the 2016 Twenty20 World Cup in the semi-final at Wankhede, when a reporter questioned his longevity as a player, Dhoni reacted in the most bizarre manner.
He asked the reporter to join him in the vacant seat next to him and turned the question on him.
That was an instance of Dhoni losing his cool, although he did try to paint the incident as him having fun.
There have been numerous occasions during press conferences of Dhoni reacting sharply with a counter question, all with a smile, when uncomfortable queries were asked.
At the same time, he would never get carried away when scribes showered praises on him. Dhoni plays his game his way and in his style.
Dhoni hails from Jharkhand, a state that has never produced top players; and to achieve such glory is spectacular.
His wicket keeping style too was not according to the books, nor was he the best. So Dhoni’s success can be purely attributed to the pleasure he derived from whatever he did or whatever role he played.
Captaining Team India that had some legendary cricketers in the squad may not have been easy, but he carried the young and experienced together very well. The ‘cool’ image is something that he has built over the years. His fitness and form too contributed heavily to it since pressure would have mounted only if he had failed as a player.
Dhoni is aware that at 35 his form can slip any time and it’s more important for a player to focus on his game.
Enjoying the pressures of captaincy is a personal trait. Tendulkar, who despite being the most successful batsman, refused to continue as captain.
Players are aware of the challenges of handling pressure with age. Dhoni’s ability to carry the pressures of captaincy and handle the job of a wicketkeeper and batsman with success has been amazing.
It is good to remember that no player in India has ever done what Dhoni did.
For those who feel Dhoni should have continued as captain, the answer is very clear — Dhoni believes in the famous saying: “it is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
