Satire Saturday | MS Dhoni wanted us to take the drift, but we were too lazy
From August 15 to August 22. We have traversed a week already yet the craze of MS Dhoni is not downing a bit. Such has been the charisma of the man that every single person has an opinion - but did we really miss the actual fact? That MS Dhoni retired in frustration after we failed to take the clue.
"Does MS Dhoni really take a break?"
When Sanjay Bangar, in no banal terms, revealed in the press conference that Dhoni wouldn’t be part of the Indian team for the last two ODIs in Mohali and Delhi against Australia in 2019, no one blinked an eye-lid. Everyone possibly thought this was to ensure Rishabh Pant got sufficient game-time ahead of the all-important World Cup in England but somewhere down the line, there was a thought.
But before anyone could realise, Pant found himself out of the World Cup squad, only to replace Shikhar Dhawan later mid-way through the tournament. Did you really give it a thought about what any of that really meant? If not, let me break this down for you. MS Dhoni had already decided to play his last home game in his hometown of Ranchi and that was the drift he gave us through Bangar after a freak partnership from Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja pulled one back for the Kangaroos.
Much before Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren realised one bit, things have been done and dusted and Dhoni walked into the World Cup with glowing happiness of bidding goodbye in the most Dhoni way possible. It could have been Delhi, it could have been Mohali, it could have been after a series win but no, it had to be in Ranchi. Chennai fans can suck it up.
MS Dhoni is a branding legend. One of the first Indian cricketers to have taken to social media, Dhoni is detached from it now more than anyone ever has a Twitter handle. He smiles to the camera - for pipes to mutual funds, for bikes to MasterCard and you buy it without giving a second thought. For Dhoni means credibility and that credibility means the brand he endorses on his bat is bound to have more traction than any Britannia, MRF or GM could do.
He went off the mark, used BAS, RBK, Spartan and then paid tribute to all the brands during the World Cup. Stickers went on changing from game to game and just like that he wanted us to take the drift. We didn’t and eventually failed to celebrate a great career on the field for one final time. Because we had failed to take the drift.
Once the tournament was over, Dhoni declared a sabbatical, despite knowing he was not getting any younger, and even after a big BCCI shake-up and a subsequent change in the selection committee, he kept on playing close-door cards as he had always done. No secret leaks, no sources, no commitment in branding press conferences yet he remained a nebulous entity for Indian cricket. Was there a clue? Perhaps we missed it altogether.
The BCCI dismissed MS Dhoni from the central contracts. We all saw it, we all talked about it but hardly cared to bat an eyelid. Sure enough, we thought it was fair because that is how it should be, but in no uncertain terms, could we imagine the day when Dhoni was the ultimate man when it comes to stuff like this? There was some information there, but we couldn’t grab it.
There has been Star Sports debate, the umpteen opinion polarised on both sides and we thought MS Dhoni would not really make any statement. Perhaps he will walk away as silently he has been on social media in the last five years but perhaps therein lied in our failure to understand MS Dhoni at an organic level. We were too busy speculating and hoping that the man from Ranchi bowed out in a way unimaginable. International Cricket moved away from him and none had any iota of information.
Today, MS Dhoni is a retired player. In fact, it is a week already. The world has, once again, gone to a silent mode and there will be speculation around what a future would entail for one and all. He will be available for CSK’s Daddy Army this time, hoping to become the joint-most successful IPL captain of all-time. But before we could realise anything, he would leave the stage once again, possibly for forever, and will never make himself a domain of farewell talks. Cricket will miss Mahi more than it has missed anyone else.
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