The Enigma Named - MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni celebrated his 41st birthday on July, 7 as Indian cricket fans and fraternity joined in and wished the most celebrated cricket captain on his birthday. The former Indian captain confirmed his participation in IPL 2023 much to the happiness of the Indian fans who will probably see him one last time playing the game of cricket.

Dhoni is more than just a cricketer to modern Indian fans. He has energised and inspired an entire generation of youngsters to follow their passion. He taught us a few things that even school did not because it was not a part of our syllabus. Believing in oneself is perhaps the biggest lesson.

“It’s not over till its over” is a very cliched line in the game of cricket. MS Dhoni turned it into real practice during his cricket career. India cricket team successfully chasing down totals was almost a myth until MSD started playing international cricket. He chased down impossible targets in the last overs and made a habit out of it. Yet again, his confidence to do so came from self-belief.

Not to fear failure was another of MS Dhoni’s advice to youngsters of today’s generation. In several of his interviews and interactions, he spoke about defying the fear of failure to rise above in life. Another of his valuable advice to young kinds was to take risks in life.

The biggest example of that was giving the final over of the T20 World Cup final against Pakistan to Joginder Sharma who before the mega event had hardly any experience of playing international cricket. India will forever remain the first team to win the T20 World Cup title, courtesy MS Dhoni.

Making the likes of Robin Uthappa and Virender Sehwag bowl the “bowl-out” against Pakistan in the 2007 T20 World Cup was another risk that he took and it paid off. Four years down the line, in the final of the 2011 World Cup, MS Dhoni with no form and runs on behind his back walked out to bat ahead of Yuvraj Singh. As it turned out, he scored an unbeaten 91 and helped India win their second 50-over World Cup title in 2011, 28 years after India won their first in 1983. Dhoni thus emphasised that risks pay off and that there is no written rule for success.

His passion and compassion towards playing cricket for India was similar to a soldier who was fighting against enemies in the border. A classic example of the same was the 2015 World Cup when Dhoni had just become a father to his newborn daughter but chose to stay back and play in the tournament rather than staying with his wife. On being asked about the same during the tournament he said that playing for the country was his most important job at that time and that everything else can take a backseat. It’s not a surprise thus that MSD has a soft corner for the Indian army and that latter is associated with it in some degree.

The Enigma Named- MS Dhoni

Hope was MS Dhoni’s second name till the time he played cricket. He helped India win games from impossible situations and the hope of the Indian fans till he was at the crease was his biggest takeaway as an international cricketer. His international career started with a runout and ended with a runout. In between was a career that saw many ups and downs scored a lot of runs and brought about a lot of accolades to the national cricket team.

He ended his international career as an enigmatic cricketer one who encapsulated an entire generation and made them to believe in miracles. The picture above is one from MS Dhoni’s last international innings in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup. India did not qualify for the final after his unfortunate run-out. However, every Indian cricket fan still believes that India would have won the match and perhaps the World Cup title had he not been dismissed. This is where his enigma remains intact and Indian cricket fans wanted more of it.

Happy Birthday, MS Dhoni !!!