The 'Mahi Way'

Spare a thought for Dhoni. How much pressure can this guy really take?

Dhoni would surely have lost his captaincy if India had not at least reached the finals. He looked dead and buried in the middle of the tournament. People, fans and experts all were criticizing him left, down and center. There were news that even selector-in-chief Srikanth clashed with him on playing Ashwin against WI (In the end, he did play). There was another report that said his wife, new to public life, was getting messages on Facebook from all over the world, imploring her to teach her husband how to select teams, how to strategise and what to speak in post match conferences!

Dhoni himself was struggling with the bat. He was unable to play himself in and- because he doesn't have a classical technique- was looking doubly ugly. His on-field decisions were questioned in letting Nehra bowl that over, in not allowing Yusuf pathan come in early and then in allowing Yusuf Pathan to come in early!

His off-field decisions were even more contentious. The whole country forgot it was only the qualifying stage and the team needed to have a working leg spinning option in Chawla. Unfortunately, apart from a practice match against Australia, Chawla was unable to take the pressure. Then in the semis against Pakistan, Dhoni had to admit his decision of leaving out Ashwin was wrong. And nothing has been heard about playing Sreesanth in the Final. My take is that Sree does bowl fast- he touched 145kmh during finals- and a fast bowler running in with fire and enthusiasm can lift the whole team up. The second reason might be that Sreesanth is a lucky mascot for the Indian team!

It's futile to debate these issues now. The real deal is that Dhoni was ready to be bold, unafraid of the consequences and be his own man (of course, with Gary Kirsten in the background). It was easy for him to do nothing- if you do nothing and let things run their course then you remain safe- and end up earning nothing. However, he chose not to. He stuck his neck out. He knew most of the decisions in Cricket turn out as gambles. He wanted to be on his own while gambling.

Cut to the final- would you promote yourself in a WC final when you're chasing a big total, your big guns have been silenced early; the team's under pressure and you yourself are out of form? Well, this guy did- based on sound cricketing logic and common sense. He did not want to expose Yuvraj to Murali, he had confidence that he could read Murali better and he wanted to keep a left-right combination.

He did come out. He struggled as usual initially but gradually started settling down for the first time in the whole tournament. And finally when he hit his first boundary, to Murali over extra cover, we JUST knew that the Dhoni we know was back. He managed to write his own script- the one only schoolboys imagine in their day dreams- win the world cup and finish things off with a six over the long on!

Hats off to this guy! One wonders which stuff he is made of!