MS Dhoni has made his mind up and there’s nothing we can do about it

As of April 14, 2020, with the lockdown in India extended until May 3, the thirteenth edition of the tournament stands to be cancelled. Cancellation of the IPL would mean stakeholders, the BCCI and the host broadcasters Star incurring losses in millions, the livelihood of thousands of vendors getting affected and organizations ending up on Carey Street. If you think people REALLY care about these things, you’re wrong. There is only one question running in the minds of 1.4 billion Indians - What happens to MS Dhoni’s future should the IPL be scrapped?

You know a man is big when the nation is more worried about his international future than their own livelihoods in the midst of a global pandemic. MS Dhoni is the single biggest example of the whole ‘No one is bigger than the team/country’ statement being nothing but a faux narrative. There is hullabaloo over a 38-year-old man without a central contract - who hasn’t played a single game of cricket in 280 days - in the midst of a nationwide lockdown and you tell me that no individual is bigger than the country? Oh, piss off. Look around, you’ll realize that Dhoni is indeed bigger than the nation.

MS Dhoni is arguably the biggest phenomenon to have emerged out of the 73-year history of Independent India. Never has there ever been a human - let alone cricketer - treated by every single person in the country like their own bhaiya and beta. Sachin Tendulkar was worshipped, but never was he adored like Dhoni; perhaps, his charisma - or rather the lack of - played a significant role in that. Even if you multiply Virat Kohli’s popularity by a hundred times, not in a thousand years, will he even remotely come close to getting the fame, acclaim and acceptance Dhoni has in the society. Rest assured, Dhoni could very well be the last of his kind in the country in terms of the impact created by sporting personalities. Do some people hate him? Absolutely. And passionately so. But then again, Hitler had a million followers, Jesus just 12, etc, etc. 

So when a man of this stature completely dissociates himself from the rest of the world in a country that mobs cricketers at the first sighting like they’re some sort of aliens from an extraterrestrial planet, you simply cannot help but admire and tip your hat off to him. It’s been nine months since MS Dhoni last held his bat for a competitive game of cricket. In this time period, one commercial appearance is all he’s made. No interviews, no shoots, no hate comments or no teasing; his whereabouts have remained a bigger mystery than the long-lost tomb of Antony and Cleopatra. 

How does a man who is as celebrated as he is, decouple himself from humankind for nine long months? No one quite knows that. But it’s remarkable and I, from a personalistic standpoint, love every bit of it. Like my colleague and long-term MS Dhoni devotee Bastab wrote, he simply does not owe anyone an explanation. I love it for the fact that he has kept billions of people hanging for so long and feels that it’s completely okay to do so. Because that’s how it should be. The bullish and despicable society that we find ourselves living in so often wants to hear people say what they want to hear that any other act - even if it's right - instantly becomes unacceptable and antagonizing. 

This, I feel, aside from the fact that Dhoni sells, is also the primitive motivation behind sports personalities and journalists day in and day out giving their opinion about Dhoni. They don’t just make statements ‘to put their opinion out there’; they’re trying to do more than just that, they’re optimistic of their statements invoking a response. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Dhoni in these past 9 months, it’s that he simply cannot be bullied into giving statements that make people happy. If losing out on a World Cup and a central contract isn’t enough for a cricketer to come out and speak, nothing ever will be. And it’s time that people realize that. 

Perhaps, that’s the biggest pro to this coronavirus outbreak - that it means that Dhoni can continue playing hide and seek and continue enraging the general public as they beat themselves up and lose their sanity debating over his future. And trust me, he’s out there somewhere, enjoying every bit of what’s being spoken and written about him.

Pardon me in advance, but maybe this is all one big, well-orchestrated conspiracy theory executed to perfection by himself and the BCCI to ensure that his reputation stays intact. In entertainment, that’s the whole idea behind repackaging, isn’t it? Your mistakes are bound to be remembered more in two months time than in two years time. Time heals and makes you forget, so when you keep someone away from the firing line for a considerable amount of time, the chance of acceptance is significant. Maybe that’s what this is all about: starving people of Dhoni to the point that they start craving him, only to unleash him when the time is right. If that, indeed, was the plan all along, then the parties involved have executed it to perfection.

But if you think you’ve got Dhoni figured out, you’re wrong. For all we know, he might already have signed a deal with Star Sports to be a commentator and in six months time, he might grace our television sets sporting his blazers. Perhaps, the earlier we realize this, the better - MS Dhoni made up his mind 9 months ago, and there’s absolutely nothing we can do to change it.