MS Dhoni was a hit at hitting the ball, hopeless at hitting on girls
Everybody who knew MS Dhoni during his schooldays talks about him as a quiet lad. His Physical Education teacher KR Banerjee says, "He hardly expressed himself verbally, while his love for sports was immense. When students become slightly senior, they have a tendency to get distracted by girls. But one cannot say any such thing about Mahi". Sanjeev Kumar, who captained his school side, shares a different story though. "He liked girls, especially those with short hair. But the problem with him was that he had no guts..."
Talking to girls might have been a problem, but hitting the ball out of the ground after he became a regular in the school team certainly wasn't. After Dhoni became a part of the school's playing XI, Sanjeev noticed that the young lad had an important quality that goes into the making of any successful person - determination. He spotted it for the first time when the school's supplier of cricketing equipment delivered a consignment of bats of substandard quality.
"The wood was so bad that hitting shots with those bats was out of question." Everybody gave up, apart from Dhoni. "I told Mahi several times that attempting to play a match with one of those bats was impossible. But he just didn't listen. He took his bat home, made several holes in it with a compass, and poured pickle oil in them. Even after that, the bat continued to be in a terrible shape. He kept on pouring pickle oil and working on the bat till it became good enough to play with. Eventually, Mahi transformed the piece of wood into a decent bat and actually used it in cricket matches. That is when I knew that this guy would go really far."
Time went by. Sanjeev continued to captain the team, while Dhoni played as the keeper, who was expected to make the run rate fly towards the end of an innings. During that time, the team's management was strict and defeats were unacceptable.
Under the guidance and supervision of his former coach Chanchalda, Dhoni continued to evolve as a player. However, his first brush with fame in school cricket circles was on its way.
Then came the day when Shabir Hussain and Dhoni went on to share a massive 378-run partnership for the first wicket which piloted their school to a win in the inter-school finals. Since Dhoni had been particularly aggressive, the news of his powerful stroke-play spread throughout Ranchi's cricketing circles. He became a much sought-after batsman in local tennis ball tournaments in which the batsmen were expected to score runs at a very fast pace. Dhoni happily obliged. He didn't follow the cricketing manual; but then, who gives a damn to rules in local tennis ball matches anyway?
Gradually, he became a popular figure, who was particularly harsh on the fast bowlers and smashed them to all parts of the ground.
(Reprinted with the publisher's permission.)