MS Dhoni: The Quiet Long Walk

Even more than his gifts in front of the stumps and behind it, it was his prescient reading of the game that set MSD apart

- Boria Majumdar

This was the T20 World Cup final, 2007. When Misbah-ul-Haq hit a towering straight six off Joginder Sharma in the second ball of the last over, Pakistan looked nearly home. Six needed of fours balls. On air, Ravi Shastri said: ‘Pakistan are just a hit away from becoming world champions.’ Co-commentator Ramiz Raja was gushing about Misbah and could barely restrain his excitement. Shastri had already asked if Dhoni should have gone for Harbhajan (Singh) instead to bowl that last over, for casting the inexperienced Joginder in that role seemed to fly in the face of cricketing logic. Joginder’s first ball, a 10 feet wide, only added to the alarm. Dhoni ran up to his charge, for a third time in the over, whispered into his ears and returned behind the stumps. The next ball was bowled full on the middle stump. Misbah scooped it into the gleeful hands of Sreesanth at short fine leg. The stadium erupted, India erupted, and the legend of visionary captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, already a much-adored national hero, was born.

The seemingly prescient throw of the dice in the 2007 final was no fluke. Over the years, MSD did it again and again. In many close encounters. Cut to the 2011 World Cup final. Much to everyone’s surprise, MSD promoted himself in the batting order, ahead of in-form Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina—and took India home, this time as batsman, in another well-remembered knock, including a matchwinning six that Sunil Gavaskar rhapsodises is the last thing he’d like to see before he dies. As coach Gary Kirsten said, “It was his call. And it showed how he was as leader and captain.”