Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD), a name so resounding that it inspires people across all the generations. A legacy of wisely executed decisions on and off the field. What can I say about the stalwart that already hasn’t been said? Captain cool, great reflexes and brute strength! This man had it all and led from the front for 10 rock steady years, and he made it look easy! In this issue of the blog, we will talk about a specific game! The game where it all started, the inaugural T-20 cricket world cup finals.

Let us start with the backdrop of this world cup and more specifically the Indian cricketing contingent. The team had suffered a group stage exit from the one-day cricket world cup with a loss to Bangladesh. This was a huge blow to the entire nation as India were the runners-up in the previous world cup (2003). The emotions were high and nobody was keen on competing in the T-20 world cup. BCCI eventually let out the squad for the T-20 format with MSD as the captain, Sehwag, Agarkar, Harbhajan and Yuvraj Singh were the experienced players with Dravid-Ganguly-Tendulkar trio opting to sit back and rest. Rest everyone was young and a new squad was selected. They were brushed off by the media and the other players alike for not having enough experience and firepower to go far in the tournament. Little did anyone know that this tournament will change the way cricket is perceived in India.

The fairy tale in south Africa was scripted even before the tournament began that year with India-Pakistan being put in the same group along with Scotland as the third team. During the first India-Pakistan match, the scores evened out at the end. A rare feature in the world of cricket and indeed an adventurous one due to ICC rules at that time. A bowl out was supposed to be conducted and this is the first scenario where we see the indigenous man-management of MSD. 3 spinners were Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa, everybody watching the match was confused at that point due to 2 things, primarily Pakistan’s bowling power was far better than India’s due to having the likes of Yasir Arafat and Umar Gul and secondarily the 2 out of 3 spinners chosen for the bowl out were not bowlers primarily. The second indigenous incident was the sitting of MSD behind the stumps, there was one clear example for spinners, “try to hit me with the ball”. Self and man management with clear communication resulted in this bowl-out coming off as 3-0 win for india against pakistan.

In the super-8, India had to face New Zealand-england and south Africa. With the first super-8 match turning out into a loss against New Zealand, the other 2 matches were a compulsory win in order to progress.Most memorable of them was the India vs England match with Flintoff sledging Yuvraj Singh in the previous over and MSD rotating towards the non-strike in the same over to give Yuvraj the strike. He knew at that time, the prince of Indian cricket would bring the fireworks for Flintoff, all he instructed Yuvraj was to not let the ball get the better of your anger. The next over made Yuvraj into a superstar when he hit 6-sixes off 6 balls. A feat never performed in an international match. Brilliant Yuvraj backed up by a cool Dhoni made India win the match with 18 runs to spare.

In the semi-finals against australia, one-day champions at that time and arguably the best overall team at that point in world cricket, India got off to a slow start but credit where it’s due for yuvraj singh who hit 70 off 30 balls to take India to a staggering total of 188/5. The target was set but Australia had steamrolled the power-play with Matthew Hayden heading the chase.A beautiful spell of 12 runs and 2 wickets in 4 overs by S.Sreesanth helped India contain the giants and win the match with 15 runs. Working on the line and length from behind the stumps, MSD made sure Sreesanth hit the best bowling figures. He knew which overs to give to whom which was a very important skill at that time. He alternated between RP singh, Irfan Pathan and sreesanth which proved useful. This skill came into focus in the finals as well.

India was set for a summit clash against Pakistan to decide who will write history by lifting the first T20 world cup. Stakes were higher because it was the Arch-rivals and as history states any Indo-pak match brings fireworks with it. No world-cup had these teams playing in the finals. Coming to the innings, India won the toss and opted to bat first. Gambhir played a mature innings to stabilize the scorecard and Rohit Sharma hit the balls in the death overs to take India to a decent total of 157/5. Sreesanth the hero of the previous match gave a 21-run over and boosted Pakistan’s chances of winning but Irfan Pathan bowled 3 wickets and 16 run spell in 4 overs to even out the game. To choose Joginder sharma for the last over when you have other experienced bowlers in the team who know how to handle the pressure was a huge gamble for the world but a calculated risk for MSD. He knew the batsmen were trying to find gaps in the field and would go for reverse scoop eventually. Joginder offered him line and length like no other bowler did and moderate pace to contain the hits. The gamble paid off 3 hits later when the hope and last wicket of Pakistan, Misbah-ul-haq attempted that scoop and the ball landed in the hands of sreesanth. Much to the rejoice of the entire nation, India wrote history that day but the fairy tale was scripted in MSD’s mind from the very beginning (I would believe that he aimed for the trophy right from the start). The win changed perception of Indians and taught everyone the power of data, man management, risk taking abilities and calculative use of emotions.

MS Dhoni announced his retirement on the independence day of India through social media captioning it as, “Thanks a lot for your love and support throughout from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired.” As of now, the reporters need confirmation from MSD himself who hasn’t given any interviews yet. This article is my tribute to MSD who I have idolized since as long as i can remember. Thank you Mahi!