Forget everything for a moment. Forget you are talking about India’s, perhaps the world's one of the greatest skippers. Imagine being at the centre of a mess that Indian wicket-keeping was about - from Vijay Dhahiya to MSK Prasad, from Sameer Dighe to Ajay Ratra. How would you react then? Okay, Reserve that judgement for a moment. Let’s get on a voyage and unearth the potential of the alternate universe and the path Indian cricket would have taken had MS Dhoni not happened to Indian cricket at all. 

India host Sri Lanka in the Indian Oil Cup now and being given a target of 298, the Indian side are in a real conundrum after the dismissal of Tendulkar and Ganguly. All eyes are on Karthik when he comes in to bat at No.4 but he is dismissed for 10. India are in dire straits but Yuvraj Singh, in company with Venugopal Rao and JP Yadav, plays a blinder of an innings to help the team home. By now, it is the Greg Chappell era in Indian cricket and it also breaks out a great controversy in Indian cricket. Eventually, Ganguly has to go and Rahul Dravid becomes the new skipper of the side that is promising youthful exuberance. Seeing Yuvraj’s potential, the Aussie also suggests making the Punjab southpaw as Dravid’s deputy for the 2007 World Cup.

In the Super Eight stages of the tournament, India beat Windies and South Africa in regular fashion but the quirk of fate sees Karthik sustaining a major hip injury which rules him out of the subsequent matches. Uthappa replaces him in the playing XI as the keeper but the slow and low surfaces of Antigua and Grenada result in India losing the next three matches against England (80 runs), against Australia (104 runs) and by four wickets against New Zealand. India are now out of the competition with Yuvraj scoring 387 runs, emerging as India’s biggest show-stopper.

The performance also leads to Yuvraj being appointed as the skipper of the side for the T20 World Cup, but then arrives the downside of being a superstar batsman and not-so-good cricketing brain. Yuvi finds it extremely hard to run the show and even though Gambhir and Irfan give their all, it is not enough. In the tied encounter against Pakistan, the bowl-out is followed and Yuvi, for his short-sightedness, gives it to the pacers and after three rounds, the scoreline is still 0-0. Shoaib Malik hands over the ball to Yasir Arafat for the fourth attempt, which he demolishes successfully, and subsequently, Shahid Afridi does that second in a row and Pakistan enters the second round of the league.

Meanwhile, something is brewing in India. Although Dravid has no reason to take that decision but seeing it is the time to groom Yuvi for the next ICC event, he decides to step down from the limited-overs role. Understanding leaving the role ahead of the all-important Border-Gavaskar Test series would be detrimental to the side’s fortunes, he hangs in there with Test captaincy as India tour Down Under in December. But remember, Karthik is still unfit and India has a decision to make - so they go with Pankaj Dharmani, who played one ODI for India in the 90s, as the keeper after the Punjab man had two excellent seasons in the Ranji Trophy.

However, that matters for a little with Australia beating India in the Boxing Day Test to go 1-0 up but in Sydney, Sourav Ganguly, fresh from a superb Ranji campaign, in which he led Bengal to the finals, gives a plot twist. With the baggage of 2004 on them, Kumble stands up to finish the unfinished job with a seven-wicket haul and even though 11 wrong decisions go against them, India scampers home the Test as Ganguly scores an unbeaten 183 in the second innings. The series is 1-1 now with the caravan moving to Perth, it is Dravid and Yuvraj who make the Aussies cry with a sublime 240-run partnership. That breaks Australia’s back and the eventual target boils down to 390 with two days of game remaining.

Adelaide was also the scene for Dravid’s previous magnum opus and history beckons for him this time too. He wins the toss and chooses to bat first on excellent batting conditions, with Sehwag right away taking down Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson. India post 468 in the first innings, but a burst of raw pace from Rudra Pratap Singh ensures Australia finding it hard to sustain. Michael Clarke is the only in-form batsman with his acrobatic 83 as the hosts put up 307 on the board, trailing by 161 runs. 

In the second innings, it is Tendulkar who delivers the punch, like he always has against the Kangaroos, with 153 of his own as India, as they did in Perth, leaves Australia to achieve as much as 463. The target is almost out of the reach for Australia and India are fancying their first series win in the nation. Irfan takes the star turn with the ball, but the most important figure in the entire business becomes Dharmani. 

Meanwhile, amidst all this chaos, MS Dhoni, a football player now, is leading India in the AFC Cup, downing the dominance of the mighty Japanese to help India qualify for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.