Rajashri Venkatesh
Mahendra Singh Dhoni recently shook the world by announcing his early retirement as the Indian Team Captain. Indian Cricket team reached unimaginable heights under his captaincy. Not only do his teammates have immense respect for him but the entire world loves him. Here are few of the reasons why...
In 2007, he led the team a whopping victory in ICC T-20 World Cup. He continues to inspire the younger generation with his brilliant captaincy, and out of the box thinking. The upcoming movie ‘Dhoni – The Untold Story’, is Bollywood’s tribute to his genius. You can watch the trailer here if you have not already.
Dhoni is captain everybody loves. He cares for his team and promotes team bonding. On the night India won, the World Cup trophy was handled by every player except Dhoni. He is forthcoming, upfront and brutally honest. This has always come to his advantage and fostered the team spirit in the Indian Cricket Team. He has respect for senior members of the team (like Sachin Tendulkar) and is a source of inspiration for the newcomers.
Barring Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni is arguably the most popular and definitely the most scrutinised cricketer from India. He has done so coming from the cricketing backwaters, the mining state of Jharkhand, and through a home-made batting and wicketkeeping technique, and a style of captaincy that scales the highs and lows of both conservatism and unorthodoxy. Under Dhoni's captaincy, India have won the top prize in all formats: the No.1 Test ranking for 18 months starting December 2009, the 50-over World Cup in 2011 and the World Twenty20 on his captaincy debut in 2007.
MS Dhoni backs his players. Always. Whether it’s the inexperienced Hardik Pandya bowling the last over of a crucial match or the old warhorse Gautam Gambhir making protracted returns, Dhoni always backs his team. This support gives them the confidence to play at their best. It also endows them with a sense of responsibility to perform well. Entrepreneurs should feel safe to experiment and fail if they need to, on their way to success.
Becoming the captain of Indian cricket team, at the time when there were other more dependable choices, brought with it a lot of pressure and immediate responsibilities. Since then, Dhoni has been handling the team without any major rifts. Playing and heading a team of eleven players which is a mix bag of stars, youngsters and strugglers is big headache, handled well and smoothly by Mahi.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed 20 off six balls as India stormed to their sixth Asia Cup title, crushing hosts Bangladesh by eight wickets in a rain-curtailed final in Dhaka. Virat Kohli is perhaps the best batsman in the world but the dashing 27-year-old Delhi run-machine feels that his limited-overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the best finisher when it comes to the shorter formats of the game.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has inspired many youngsters to take up not just cricket but sport in general. Dhoni’s sporting philosophy -- with work ethic and pragmatism as its main elements -- has influenced many cricketers as well as athletes across sport, from not just India but around the world.
