Why Dhoni is a true Indian hero

Is Mahendra Singh Dhoni the most extraordinary man to have ever played cricket for India? I would not like to answer that question with a direct yes or no. But I think he is a hero. Cricket is a unique game. It is genteel — there is no rolling around in the mud, no targeting kneecaps with sharp studs. At the same time, it is one of the most dangerous team sports played on earth — a leather ball comes at your face at 140kmph from just 20 yards away; think of your face. It reveals a man’s character more tellingly than almost any other sport (a sprinter is just a sprinter; a man coming in at the fall of the ninth wicket with six overs left in the Test and 45 to win is in a somewhat different situation).

Character

And when you are playing for India, you are not just playing a game. You are doing something far bigger, something too big for either you or the mob to grasp fully, in sufficient measure.

Cricket reveals a man’s character. Which is something that Dhoni has never lacked. Character. And he has been more than a cricketer, more than India’s cricket captain. He is a socio-economic phenomenon who has been an inspiration to more young Indians in the last decade than anyone I can think of — and that includes our current prime minister. His rags-to-riches story has been told many times — and will be told many times more, but the fact is that everything we know about him tells us that here is an extraordinary man. And there are many things we do not know about him, and will never know. Dhoni is not a man who reveals his inner thoughts.

Dhoni’s public interactions — press conferences and post-match conversations with TV anchors — have never revealed anything of substance. In fact, the most important information you got from him and about him was from his always sparkling eyes and easy smile. And it was up to you to interpret in any way you wanted. He wouldn’t help in that.

That he is a man possessed of a remarkable intelligence has never been in doubt. And it is an unusual intelligence which flows through everything he does — from the way he plays, and the way he performs his other roles. But it is quite a unique intelligence. It is not the Brahminical methodical brainwork that characterises a Rahul Dravid, nor the strange combination of passion, cunning and long-term perspective that made Sourav Ganguly the best Indian captain ever (yes, better than Dhoni, and forget the damn statistics). Dhoni’s intelligence is — for the lack of a better term — biological.

Finisher

Watch him bat. Is he a cricketer at all? He seems to be playing baseball. Not for him all the A-for-apple stuff about batpad close together and keeping one’s head still and so on. He treats every ball that comes to him not as part of a revered sports penal code, but as, well, a red sphere coming at a guy who has to do something about it with a piece of wood he has in his hands. He plays tennis-ball cricket, with extreme consequences for the rival team.

Watch him keep. He has stumped more batsmen than any other Indian wicketkeeper, but again the C-for-cat stuff escaped him. When the batsman misses the delivery, there is no gathering of the ball, pushing the body back (a natural Newtonian motion) and then coming forward to take off the bails. It is one seamless motion, The ball arrives, Dhoni’s body posture does not change, he just pushes the ball into the stumps, and the batsman is gone. I have not seen Rodney Marsh or Godfrey Evans stumping, but I cannot think anyone can be faster than Dhoni.

He is certainly the best finisher One Day cricket has ever seen. His method — as with everything else about him — no sane trainer would ever recommend it, is to wait till the breaking point, everything on the line. Typically, 14 runs needed off the last over. When was the last time Dhoni did not deliver from that situation? He runs the last chance saloon, cheerfully and with sparkling eyes.

Undefeated

Yet, he has managed the intricate politics of Indian cricket for years. He has been through a period of high drama and low avarice with phenomenal calm, and characteristically, leaving everyone guessing what he was really thinking. It is clear that he has made several compromises, but amazingly, he does not seem to have compromised himself.

Indian cricket is a tough arena. Being India’s cricket captain is the sort of job Barack Obama would consider with great trepidation. And it all finally catches up with you. The chances of quitting the job undefeated are comparable to that of an ice cube in a Tata Steel furnace. Let me say this clearly: Dhoni’s retiring from Tests certainly has to do with Ravi Shastri, the team director, whose aims, motivations and values have always been slightly mysterious. But Shastri is unable to second-guess a boy from Ranchi.

Through this exceptionally courageous decision to retire from Tests, Dhoni has shown everyone their place. And cemented his own. When he goes out and leads India a month from now in the World Cup, he will be master of his fate, and no one — no one — will have the guts to question him or even look him in the eye.

I like this guy. Maybe India could even win the World Cup! I am old enough to remember the 1983 win, and I am young enough to recall that look in Dhoni’s eyes when decided to hoist the ball for a six in 2011 and win the Cup. He is a true Indian hero, who represents everything we can feel good about this country.