A captain has to imbibe many qualities to become a great leader. He has to have the nerve of a gambler, the patience of a saint and the mind of a psychiatrist. Mahendra Singh Dhoni possessed all these qualities at the time of taking over the reins of captaincy from Anil Kumble. For all his good qualities of the skipper, he was lovingly called “Captain Cool”. Leave alone his finisher tag and an acrobatic stumper, Dhoni was a man for all seasons and that was displayed as he performed well at the highest level in all the three formats of the game. Few days back he announced retirement from One day as well as T-20 cricket. Dhoni will be best remembered for his quick running between the wickets and his fast reflex actions as a wicket keeper. Team India was enjoying a successful period of nine years winning the T-20 World Cup in 2007, CB Series in Australia in 2008, the World Cup in India in 2011 and the Championship Trophy in the year 2013. In all Dhoni completed a cricketing circle and it is the right time to call it a day as captain when people ask why he is quitting as skipper. Now he has set a high benchmark for Virat Kohli to continue the winning streak and keep the Indian flag flying.
The date was 30 December, 2014, India had just lost the Test series against Australia, and an email popped up to announce MS Dhoni’s retirement from the longer format of the game. On January 4, 2017, his Test retirement set the tone for his future farewells. And unexpectedly enough, another simple email, much like the one sent just over two years ago, stated that Dhoni had quit as ODI and T20 captain. Unlike other Indian Captains of the past, MS. Dhoni was not under pressure to step down from captaincy. Now the thousand dollar question is whether he will last till 2019 World cup to participate as a player. Now the selectors will be in a dilemma to make sure his place is safe in the side. As a captain his winning percentage is encouraging as he worked hard for wins with his positive approach.
Anandambal Subbu
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
