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On the 74th Independence Day of India, the former Indian Men’s Cricket Team captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket, bringing the curtains down to one of the most illustrious careers, the game has ever seen.
An inspiring leader, a dependable
finisher, a match-winner, the man with a Midas touch, a legend, or simply ‘Mahi’.
Call him what you want. Such has been the vast legacy of the man who showed the
world how a young boy from Ranchi could conquer the world with his sheer hard
work, brilliance, and determination.
While the praises for arguably the
greatest captain India has ever seen will continue to flow in the days and
weeks to come, I am writing this article to remember the first time I heard the
name Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
I was a young ten-year-old who had
developed a new-grown passion for the game of cricket. My daily routine began
with getting hold of the Hindi morning newspaper to flip to the sports section.
On one of those days, I came across the
news of a Triangular Tournament taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, between
India-A, Pakistan-A, and Kenya. Accompanying the article was the photograph of
a young long-haired boy, with the fine-print reading: “Wicketkeeper-batsman
from Jharkhand, Mahendra Singh Dhoni”.
In those days, seeing a cricketer with
long-hair, especially in India, was as rare as, well, seeing a cricketer
hailing from Ranchi. The newspaper article pertained to the 3rd
match of the tournament wherein India-A registered a hard-fought victory over
Pakistan-A and Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the highest scorer in the game with a
knock of 70 runs.
On paper, there wasn’t anything out of
the ordinary about this innings. Somehow though, I was rooting for this up and
coming player and wanted to see him live on television. It was one of those
rare India-A tournaments which were being telecasted.
Then came on 16 August 2004. Now that I
look back, perhaps, one of the luckiest days of my life. I was about to witness
the first glimpse of the magic that would engulf an entire nation for the next
16 years.
India-A played Pakistan-A in the 6th
match of the tournament. India-A was sent into bat by Pakistan-A captain
Misbah-Ul-Haq. After the opening stand of 38 was broken, MS Dhoni joined Gautam
Gambhir at the crease and orchestrated an epic partnership of 207 runs. Dhoni cracked a magnificent knock of 120 runs
in 122 balls, sprinkled with ten fours and two sixes.
The brilliance of this day might not
have been enough for Dhoni to be propelled to a national team call-up. Three
days later, he ensured that he becomes undeniable to the national selectors.
On 19 August 2004, India-A once again
played Pakistan-A. This time, the Pakistani skipper, Misbah-Ul-Haq decided to
bat first and played a captain’s knock of 106 runs, propelling the target of
235 runs for India-A.
MS Dhoni arrived in the middle only
after nine balls into the innings. Carrying on from where he left off in the
previous game, he scored a splendid unbeaten, match-winning knock of 119 runs in
134 balls, which included nine fours and five humungous sixes. India-A went on
to win the Triangular Tournament, and Dhoni finished the tournament as the
highest run-scorer with 362 runs in 6 innings at a staggering average of 72.40.
However, the significance of this
tournament goes way beyond the results and the numbers. In hindsight, this is
one of the most important tournaments in the history of Indian cricket. This is
where the world saw the first glimpses of the young long-haired
wicketkeeper-batsman from Jharkhand.
On the back of this performance, four
months later, on 23 December 2004, Mahendra Singh Dhoni made his
One-Day-International debut against Bangladesh.
And the rest is history.
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