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THE CAPTAIN’S CALL

Amidst the thunderous applause that reverberated through the Wankhede on the night of 2nd, April, 2011, Mahendra Singh Dhoni emerged to hold aloft the object of a million prayers, the World Cup Trophy!

Having silenced every wagging tongue, with a Captains innings of 91*, the Indian skipper not only sealed his place amongst the greatest ever captains, but also won a billion hearts!

Over a 7 year period, the boy from Ranchi has come a long way from the swaggering long haired youngster to the new (bald!) but extremely self assured individual carrying the (thankless) mantle of the ‘Captain of the Indian Cricket Team’. The T20 World Cup victory, Victories galore with the CSK IPL team (both, the IPL as well as the CL-T20) and now the World Cup itself, and with numero uno annexed in both Tests and ODIs, Dhoni has taken Indian Cricket to the pinnacle of success!

… And so everyone wants a piece of Dhoni! (Just look at the no. of ads he features in right now: Reebok, Sonata, Pepsi, Aircel… and the list goes on!)

Dhoni has proven to be a great strategist, a Captain who thinks on his feet, be it gambling with Joginder Sharma in the last over of the T20 final against Pakistan or sticking his neck and picking Ashish Nehra in the semi final, Dhoni’s calls have shown to be refreshing and inspired at most times! Apart from Captaincy, Dhoni also continues as India’s premier keeper as well as a premier batsman.

For someone who believes that Dhoni’s always had a good degree of luck going for him, I admit that I’ve been made to swallow my words. After all, what’s luck without talent and hard work eh!?!

So, the inevitable question, ‘Is Dhoni the greatest ever Indian Captain?... Ahead of Kapil Dev and Saurav Ganguly?...’ That’s still a difficult comparison to make. As for Kapil, I’ve no opinion (as I haven’t seen him during his playing days), but in my book he ties with Ganguly for the top spot!

The reason is: Ganguly had to build the team; Dhoni consolidated and took it forward. Ultimately, whatever one may say, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has indeligibly etched his name in the history book!

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