Friday, June 19, 2009

Mahi to Monster... Monster to Mahan cricketer???

Life has come to a full circle for Mahendra… I mean Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian cricket captain. Even since his dramatic debut to Indian team he has only seen things going from good to better. And like most of the mortal beings, success has made him wary of loosing it. He lost touch with his fearless mind. Flawless instinctive decisions gave way to overcautious mistakes. “Captain Cool Dude” became rude hot headed arrogant. Like the eternal story of Bengali crabs, Indian media tried to pull him down. And once, he was disarmed by the pathetic losses, knives came out. He had experimented with Yoginder sharma during last world cup. It paid off and he became Captain courageous. Suresh Raina did magic with balls during the death in IPL T20, Dhoni became master strategist. But the moment gambles started going the other way, his historical win at New Zeeland, just the other day were forgotten like a bad dream. Media pained a “monster” out of “Mahi”.
Now, would be the real test for him. It would be interesting to see how he comes out of this mess. He had opened too many front, had taken fight against too many… selectors, celebrities, team mates, media, ex cricketers… His personal form is down in dumps… his confidence is shaken. It is very easy to slide to obliteration, get caught into this web of failure or run towards resigning to fate. However, if he has the essence of true greatness, he would fight back. We have seen similar turn around from Saurav Ganguli in the past and I am quite sure Dhoni is also capable of one.

Few hours before India got out of world T20, during the national anthem- the camera had focused on Dhoni, there were a sense of pride in his posture and a drop of tear at the corner of his eye. That gave me a feeling- Dhoni is not going to take it lying low. He would again stand up from the ashes like a phoenix… We would be waiting for that moment Mahi…

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