5 Best Memories Of Captain MS Dhoni

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni may not have played competitive cricket ever since India’s heartbreaking defeat to New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semi-final, but the champion leader continues to remain the talk of the town. Fans were eagerly waiting to see their beloved ‘Thala’ in action in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League but unfortunately, things aren’t looking bright thanks to the COVID-19 situation.

Dhoni had a ten-year stint as an Indian white-ball captain and around six years as a leader in the purest format of the game where he saw incredible highs followed by soul-crushing lows. One can write an entire book on Dhoni’s leadership but this article solely aims at pointing out five less celebrated and talked about aspects of Dhoni’s reign as Indian captain.

Here’s a look at five Best Memories Of The Captain MS Dhoni:

5. Handing over trophies to his teammates after the win

Imagine! You have just led your team to a World title. And, you have done that by beating arch-rivals Pakistan in a fiercely contested encounter. The entire world is at your feet. Ideally, in such a scenario, most of us would want to make the occasion all about yourself. Not MS Dhoni! Dhoni believes in the process. And, when that process leads to a victory, what does he do next? He takes the trophy and hands it over to the future stars of his team and slowly fades into oblivion as his teammates bask into glory, hogging all the limelight.

Just look at the past World Cup winners photos and you’d find the captain central to it, basking in the glory with the trophy in his/her hand. And, then look at India’s triumphs in the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champion Trophy and you won’t see everyone but Dhoni basking in glory with the silverware. In-fact, Dhoni has sort of created a culture- of handing over the trophy to the youngsters-  which the likes of Virat Kohli and stand-in captains like Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane have duly taken forward.

4. Giving Dada a chance to captain in the closing stages of his final Test

The 2008 Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia saw the Men in Blue avenge the heartbreaking defeat that they had suffered in the winter of 2004 on home soil. But despite positive results from the series and the emergence of MS Dhoni- the Test captain, the series also proved to be a heartbreaking affair for the fans as two of India’s greatest cricketers in Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly called it a day on their celebrated careers.

While Kumble, the incumbent captain retired after the third Test, Ganguly followed suit in Nagpur. But that was not before the fans once again got to see Dada leading the side in the closing moments of his Test career after MS Dhoni- much to Ganguly’s surprise- asked him to take over the leadership for one final time.

“I didn’t expect MS to ask me to captain the side for five overs. I was already switched off, so he woke me up. I didn’t know what was happening during the first six-seven balls,” Sourav Ganguly on MSD asking him to lead the side in the closing stages of the Nagpur Test as quoted by Sportskeeda.

3. Asking Virat to come and share the Celkon Mobile Cup 2013- a tournament where Virat had captained in the initial half.

The 2013 Celkon Mobile Cup tri-nations series is best remembered for Dhoni’s exploits in the final against Sri Lanka where he shellacked 15 runs in the final over that helped India clinch the titular ter.encounter. But few people remember that it was actually under Virat Kohli’s captaincy that India qualified for the finals after Dhoni was ruled out due to hamstring injury in the opening fixture.

But, Dhoni hadn’t forgotten Virat’s efforts. And, so when the Indian captain was called upon to receive the trophy, he acknowledged Kohli’s role in the Men in Blue reaching the finals and in a heartwarming gesture called him to pose with the trophy.

2. Leading from the front and scripting India’s revival after home series defeats to England [in Tests] and Pakistan [in ODIs]

It all started from that tumultuous overseas Test cycle in 2011-12 when India, the No.1 ranked side in the world, was brought to its knees with back-to-back series whitewashes in England and Australia.

But the nadir was well and truly reached when MS Dhoni-led India lost to England for the first time in 28 years at home [1-2] before another chastening defeat was followed in the form of ODI series loss to Pakistan in January of 2013. Former Indian selector Mohinder Amarnath has revealed in recent times how the then BCCI president N Srinivasan came to Dhoni’s rescue and saved the World Cup-winning captain from losing out on leadership duties.

Dhoni himself was asked whether he was considering relinquishing the captaincy in the immediate aftermath of the series defeat against Pakistan. But, the Indian captain was determined to not leave the team in such a dire situation. He wanted to rebuild the side and so he did with not only his leadership but also with his bat. 

A month later, Australia visited India for a four-match Test series and India once found itself in a spot of bother in the first match in Chennai. And, this is where Dhoni- the batsman- stepped up and played probably the best innings of his 90-match Test career. Dhoni’s 224 not only helped India win the Test match but it also led to the home side turning the tables on Australia as they completed a rare series whitewash against Micheal Clarke-led unit. That series gave a new lease of life to Dhoni- the captain- as just a few months later India went to win their third ICC title under his leadership.

1. Allowing Virat to score the winning runs in the 2014 T20 WC semi-final

MS Dhoni hitting a six to finish off a run-chase is probably one of the most romantic love stories in cricket. And, so with just one run required to win the 2014 ICC T20 World Cup semi-final against South Africa, everyone expected the Indian captain to finish off the game in his trademark style.

But, to everyone’s surprise, Dhoni blocked the last ball of the penultimate over. Why? Because he wanted Virat Kohli, the main architect of the run-chase, to finish off the game, which the current Indian captain duly did with his trademark flat-batted pull over midwicket on the very first ball of the last over.