Dhoni does the unexpected. He did it again. You were thinking he will retire after 2015 World Cup. You were wrong. You were thinking he will retire after 2016 T-20 World Cup. You were wrong. After Dhoni hinted that he is keen to continue till 2019 World Cup. You must have been thinking he will give up captaincy after Champions Trophy. You are proved wrong, again!
Just as he left Test Cricket, at very unexpected time he decided to step down as a One-Day captain. He caught you off guard.
But like relinquishing test cap, giving up ODI captaincy wouldn't have been easy. Unlike test cricket, One-Day cricket is Dhoni's arena. He was born to play and lead in ODI's. Dhoni would thought hard and would have looked at its aftermath consequences. Perhaps he would have thought, with only 30 months left to World Cup 2019, the time is right for Kohli to lead and carry Indian Cricket forward.
A captain's job is to build the team, chaperone it, concoct the successor and to then pass the baton. Saurav Ganguly collected the stock, arranged it passed it to Rahul Dravid. Rahul Dravid (with same team) brought his own theories and passed it to MS Dhoni. Dhoni with almost same set of players shepherded India to World Cup glory. Then build-ed his own side, a Champions Trophy triumph and now drifted in Kohli's hand, who looks ready to drive it further.
Dhoni captaincy tenure includes a unique trio - T-20 World Cup, 50 over World Cup, Champions Trophy. In our sports nothing is enormous than world cup. But maybe champions trophy victory was more sizable for Dhoni. It came at time when Indian cricket was full of chaos. There was a question over its integrity due to IPL spot fixing scandal. Also Indian ODI cricket was going through a transition. Amid all that to take least expected side to champions trophy victory was true reflection of Dhoni's character - calmness.
One of great, at times a bit annoying character of Dhoni's captaincy was to back players. Back them till they doesn't come good. In that respect, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli owes Dhoni a lot. Even after going through a horror patch against Sri Lanka where he averaged in single digit, Dhoni continued to back Rohit and surprisingly promoted him to open. And now Rohit Sharma is a one-day monster. Same is true for Virat Kohli. After failing to adapt as test batsman many questioned him but not Dhoni and now one of the great modern batsman and ironically Dhoni's successor.
Dhoni captaincy was based on instincts. In T-20 world cup final he gave Joginder Sharma the final over ahead of experienced Harbhajan Singh and now picture of Misbha's scoop is wallpaper on many Indian desktops and dp of various whats-app profiles. He promoted himself ahead of Yuvraj Singh in 2011 world cup and in champions trophy he gave Ishant Sharma the most crucial over. The rest is history. Dhoni followed his instincts and as he says "instincts comes with experience".
In years to come many captains will lead India but Dhoni's legacy will remain unhalted. Just like his other decisions, when you will be least expecting Dhoni will call it a day and will walk away unhappy, but with satisfaction.
Just as he left Test Cricket, at very unexpected time he decided to step down as a One-Day captain. He caught you off guard.
But like relinquishing test cap, giving up ODI captaincy wouldn't have been easy. Unlike test cricket, One-Day cricket is Dhoni's arena. He was born to play and lead in ODI's. Dhoni would thought hard and would have looked at its aftermath consequences. Perhaps he would have thought, with only 30 months left to World Cup 2019, the time is right for Kohli to lead and carry Indian Cricket forward.
A captain's job is to build the team, chaperone it, concoct the successor and to then pass the baton. Saurav Ganguly collected the stock, arranged it passed it to Rahul Dravid. Rahul Dravid (with same team) brought his own theories and passed it to MS Dhoni. Dhoni with almost same set of players shepherded India to World Cup glory. Then build-ed his own side, a Champions Trophy triumph and now drifted in Kohli's hand, who looks ready to drive it further.
Dhoni captaincy tenure includes a unique trio - T-20 World Cup, 50 over World Cup, Champions Trophy. In our sports nothing is enormous than world cup. But maybe champions trophy victory was more sizable for Dhoni. It came at time when Indian cricket was full of chaos. There was a question over its integrity due to IPL spot fixing scandal. Also Indian ODI cricket was going through a transition. Amid all that to take least expected side to champions trophy victory was true reflection of Dhoni's character - calmness.
A captain's job is to build the team, chaperone it, concoct the successor and to then pass the baton
One of great, at times a bit annoying character of Dhoni's captaincy was to back players. Back them till they doesn't come good. In that respect, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli owes Dhoni a lot. Even after going through a horror patch against Sri Lanka where he averaged in single digit, Dhoni continued to back Rohit and surprisingly promoted him to open. And now Rohit Sharma is a one-day monster. Same is true for Virat Kohli. After failing to adapt as test batsman many questioned him but not Dhoni and now one of the great modern batsman and ironically Dhoni's successor.
Dhoni captaincy was based on instincts. In T-20 world cup final he gave Joginder Sharma the final over ahead of experienced Harbhajan Singh and now picture of Misbha's scoop is wallpaper on many Indian desktops and dp of various whats-app profiles. He promoted himself ahead of Yuvraj Singh in 2011 world cup and in champions trophy he gave Ishant Sharma the most crucial over. The rest is history. Dhoni followed his instincts and as he says "instincts comes with experience".
In years to come many captains will lead India but Dhoni's legacy will remain unhalted. Just like his other decisions, when you will be least expecting Dhoni will call it a day and will walk away unhappy, but with satisfaction.
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