Just think. When was the last time you saw MS Dhoni keep wickets without sporting his now-trademark shades? Often these are of an orangish hue; often a shade darker, like in the recent fourth ODI at Port Elizabeth. Behind them, his mind ticks away frenetically. All the while, Dhoni will be pulling off some lightening fast stumpings, shifting the field around, reading the pitch and rotating his bowlers or dishing out the occasional mild rebuke.
Sometimes, he must be contemplating the meaning of fear and the price of failure too. On the outside, though, you won't see him chew his nails. You won't see him lose his marbles over a missed catch. His mind must be a maelstrom of ideas, options and possibilities; the exterior gives nothing away. The shades are, unwittingly or not, Dhoni's defence in a world in which he must hide every flaw, every physical expression of doubt. Hitting a ball out of the park would seem a tad easier in comparison.
This commendable restraint has made the phenomenon called Dhoni perplexing to comprehend. The same people who dubbed him 'Captain Cool' will call him 'lucky'. Many cricket-buffs swear that like the Beatles, this is one talent in the right place at the right time. That's a simplistic assertion and must make Dhoni squirm. As John Burroughs once said, "Temperament lies behind mood, and behind it lies the fate of a character." Temperament is Dhoni's Excalibur. This is what sets him apart.
Only he knows if he can always be 'Captain Cool', and there are instances when he hasn't lived up to the moniker. But Dhoni has always carried himself like he belongs. At the Wanderers when Sreesanth took that catch to make the World T20 trophy India's, Dhoni, then a greenhorn captain whose situational leadership had already started coming in for praise, merely smiled and uprooted the stumps, even as his team and a stadium erupted around him. He didn't make a beeline for the cup and elbow others out of the way to pose when the time came. He wasn't vastly older or more experienced at what he did than the others around him. He was, simply, to the manner born. His poise, which even put some in the press box to shame, was uncanny. Not for Dhoni the histrionics of a maudlin award winner. He can take to a stage like he owns it.
Dhoni isn't one for reading and statistics but his astute eye sized up the body language of champions much before his skills caught up with them. Made captain out of the blue, he remarked: "I want a team that can stand before a truck." Occasionally, he has offered a peep into the philosophy of a small-town boy who made a seamless transition into one of India's most-recognised faces: "There are some who buckle under pressure and some who don't. As a human being, the pressure is always there inside you, but you don't show it on your face. It is about facing the challenge."
At Faisalabad, he scored his first Test ton and identified this core competency: taking the bull by the horns. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the rebuff at Railways, where he felt ignored during trials and then played coy when they woke up to his potential. Not as insanely talented as some of his contemporaries, his batting and wicketkeeping both betray a lack of conventional cricket schooling. But Dhoni boasts a sophisticated ability to adapt. You rarely see him getting carried away in a big-hitting frenzy. His man-management skills too are blunt but efficient, like leaving Ganguly and Dravid out of the CB Series.
CSK teammate Mathew Hayden recalls in Standing My Ground how Dhoni came up to him at a training session in Durban and said, "I feel I can talk to you now...that means I'm comfortable with you." Hayden writes that he realized he had been comfortable with Dhoni for a long, long time.
Team India, too, is comfortable. India's hardest working cricketer is also a hands-on leader whose assurance is contagious.
What makes Dhoni really special:
leading from the front
There's nothing that ruffles the Indian captain. Neither Ricky Ponting's foul mouth nor Kevin Pietersen's switch hits. The match may have turned into a Ram Gopal Verma 'thriller', but Dhoni always looks more relaxed than a cat purring on a couch. This quality has rubbed off onto his teammates as well. India no longer crumble in tight situations. One key ingredient of his success - his cool as a cucumber head.
Good finisher
Dhoni has grown from being just a power-hitter to a much smarter batsman, the one man you would like on the crease in a run-a-ball situation. He can accelerate the scoring at will or just milk the bowling for singles around the ground. His presence in the slog may mean an addition of 30 more runs. He is the crunch-situation man.
Confident
Imran Khan wouldn't have been the phenomenon he was if not for the belief he had in himself and his team. All great captains, in fact, are great self-believers. Dhoni is no different. He not only backs his own abilities but shows a lot of faith in the men who turn out on the field for him. That's a mark of an extremely self-assured leader. Reputations don't bother him, nor is he intimidated by history.
Unique style
Like Sehwag, it is difficult to copy Mahi's style. Like the 'helicopter shot' The bat comes down on the ball at a full-pitched delivery in rocket speed, and send the ball soaring down the ground with a horizontal swing. The other stroke from his armoury is the stroke played straight down the ground by using the forehand.
Sometimes, he must be contemplating the meaning of fear and the price of failure too. On the outside, though, you won't see him chew his nails. You won't see him lose his marbles over a missed catch. His mind must be a maelstrom of ideas, options and possibilities; the exterior gives nothing away. The shades are, unwittingly or not, Dhoni's defence in a world in which he must hide every flaw, every physical expression of doubt. Hitting a ball out of the park would seem a tad easier in comparison.
This commendable restraint has made the phenomenon called Dhoni perplexing to comprehend. The same people who dubbed him 'Captain Cool' will call him 'lucky'. Many cricket-buffs swear that like the Beatles, this is one talent in the right place at the right time. That's a simplistic assertion and must make Dhoni squirm. As John Burroughs once said, "Temperament lies behind mood, and behind it lies the fate of a character." Temperament is Dhoni's Excalibur. This is what sets him apart.
Only he knows if he can always be 'Captain Cool', and there are instances when he hasn't lived up to the moniker. But Dhoni has always carried himself like he belongs. At the Wanderers when Sreesanth took that catch to make the World T20 trophy India's, Dhoni, then a greenhorn captain whose situational leadership had already started coming in for praise, merely smiled and uprooted the stumps, even as his team and a stadium erupted around him. He didn't make a beeline for the cup and elbow others out of the way to pose when the time came. He wasn't vastly older or more experienced at what he did than the others around him. He was, simply, to the manner born. His poise, which even put some in the press box to shame, was uncanny. Not for Dhoni the histrionics of a maudlin award winner. He can take to a stage like he owns it.
Dhoni isn't one for reading and statistics but his astute eye sized up the body language of champions much before his skills caught up with them. Made captain out of the blue, he remarked: "I want a team that can stand before a truck." Occasionally, he has offered a peep into the philosophy of a small-town boy who made a seamless transition into one of India's most-recognised faces: "There are some who buckle under pressure and some who don't. As a human being, the pressure is always there inside you, but you don't show it on your face. It is about facing the challenge."
At Faisalabad, he scored his first Test ton and identified this core competency: taking the bull by the horns. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the rebuff at Railways, where he felt ignored during trials and then played coy when they woke up to his potential. Not as insanely talented as some of his contemporaries, his batting and wicketkeeping both betray a lack of conventional cricket schooling. But Dhoni boasts a sophisticated ability to adapt. You rarely see him getting carried away in a big-hitting frenzy. His man-management skills too are blunt but efficient, like leaving Ganguly and Dravid out of the CB Series.
CSK teammate Mathew Hayden recalls in Standing My Ground how Dhoni came up to him at a training session in Durban and said, "I feel I can talk to you now...that means I'm comfortable with you." Hayden writes that he realized he had been comfortable with Dhoni for a long, long time.
Team India, too, is comfortable. India's hardest working cricketer is also a hands-on leader whose assurance is contagious.
What makes Dhoni really special:
leading from the front
There's nothing that ruffles the Indian captain. Neither Ricky Ponting's foul mouth nor Kevin Pietersen's switch hits. The match may have turned into a Ram Gopal Verma 'thriller', but Dhoni always looks more relaxed than a cat purring on a couch. This quality has rubbed off onto his teammates as well. India no longer crumble in tight situations. One key ingredient of his success - his cool as a cucumber head.
Good finisher
Dhoni has grown from being just a power-hitter to a much smarter batsman, the one man you would like on the crease in a run-a-ball situation. He can accelerate the scoring at will or just milk the bowling for singles around the ground. His presence in the slog may mean an addition of 30 more runs. He is the crunch-situation man.
Confident
Imran Khan wouldn't have been the phenomenon he was if not for the belief he had in himself and his team. All great captains, in fact, are great self-believers. Dhoni is no different. He not only backs his own abilities but shows a lot of faith in the men who turn out on the field for him. That's a mark of an extremely self-assured leader. Reputations don't bother him, nor is he intimidated by history.
Unique style
Like Sehwag, it is difficult to copy Mahi's style. Like the 'helicopter shot' The bat comes down on the ball at a full-pitched delivery in rocket speed, and send the ball soaring down the ground with a horizontal swing. The other stroke from his armoury is the stroke played straight down the ground by using the forehand.
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