IPL 2020 | Global cricket still needs an icon like MS Dhoni to continue, feels Saba Karim

Exactly a month ago, on August 15, MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket, bringing the curtains down on a colossal 15-year-long career that had seen many ups and downs in the process. What remained constant, however, was Dhoni’s reaction to both ends and the enigmatic charisma he endured, which made him the greatest cult figure in Indian cricket. 

Saba Karim, who played for Bihar before representing India, knew Dhoni since he was a domestic player for the state, and his reverence only grew stronger with time. The former BCCI Game Operations head believes that the sport needs an icon like MS Dhoni to expand its horizon.

"He is very fit and I believe he is working very hard on it. Plus he has stopped playing international cricket so there will be less burden on his body. Global cricket still needs an icon like MS Dhoni to continue," Saba Karim told AFP.

Dhoni might have mellowed down his aggressive approach for the search for equanimity in the latter half of his career, but if one player who can be credited for the change in approach in modern-Indian cricket, it had to be MS Dhoni. Karim feels that Dhoni played a humongous role in making the shortest format of the game popular.

"Dhoni played an instrumental role in kick-starting the IPL because of the way he brought a different dimension to the shorter format of the game because of his aggressive side with the willow. Also with his calm exterior behind the stumps."