“Please come up to my room and we can grab a bite,” he said, and disappeared into the elevator with his team of security personnel. The whole cricket world wanted to know the mind of the man and this was an opportunity. There was no one else present and we could have a conversation without having to think of what would come out in the media. “Don’t write any of this now,” he said, and smiled at me as I entered the room. I was okay with it as long as I could understand and decode what MS Dhoni had in his mind.
“I think I should have dived. Had I dived I would have made up the two inches and no way would I be out,” is what he started with. Seeing me curious, he smiled and continued, “You know what, I had never dived in my life. So, when I was going for the second run the thought of the dive did come to my mind but then I had never dived. I felt I could make it. Just if I dived…” His words trailed off and Martin Guptil and his freakish throw was a silent presence in the room. To refresh memories -Dhoni was going for a second run with 20 plus runs to get in some 9 balls in the ill-fated 2019 World Cup semi-final in Manchester against New Zealand. He had achieved similar targets a hundred times before and there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t do it for one final time.
I could sense Dhoni was clearly not over it. I don’ t think he ever can. Clearly, there was/is a pain and a deep sense of frustration. The world’s best finisher wasn’t allowed to finish in the manner he wanted, and this wasn’t something he could either help or control.
While we will all remember Dhoni for his incredible leadership and white ball skills, we will also remember the last run out. One of the greatest cricketers to play the game, even MSD couldn’t escape the cruelty of sport. A truly imperfect finish for the perfect finisher in international cricket.
The IPL, however, is different. It is redemption time. CSK is in the final for the 10th time and it is the perfect farewell for Dhoni. In fact, every ball that Dhoni now plays is a spectacle. Every second he is out there is an event. His fans can never have enough of him, and even away grounds have turned yellow for him this season. Eden and Jaipur are examples of what Dhoni means to Indian cricket and the IPL. The competition will be poorer without him and may be that’s why each cameo that he has played adds to his aura and legend. The IPL has allowed Dhoni to finish on his terms, and has forever been his platform.
When Liverpool played and beat Chelsea in the second leg of a Champions League semifinal at Anfield in 2005, it was estimated that the crowd noise was louder than a Jumbo jet taking off. It will be fascinating to find out what the decibel levels are like on Sunday when Dhoni walks out to bat in the final in Ahmedabad. The Super Kings have always enjoyed fantastic support, but this season, with the suspicion that Dhoni might be coming to the end of his epic journey, the fans have been louder still.He has always been the man for the big stage. His record in major tournaments testimony. Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Ravindra Jadeja, Akash Singh and, now, a fit-again Deepak Chahar. On paper, at least, not a bowling attack to write home about. And yet they have delivered. Just like Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube have. Dhoni finds ways to get the best out of his players. He makes them feel special so that they do things they have not done before. And all this has resulted in CSK making the final with the possibility of a 5th title looking very real.
However, sport, as we all know, is never perfect and there are no retakes. Even for the greatest, there is no rewind button. In what has been a truly remarkable career, which will forever be remembered in the annals of Indian cricket, there will always be that one inch to lament. That run out in the 2019 World Cup. The ‘what if’ question will spice up cricket debates for all time to come. We will continue to argue if he would have scripted a final fairytale. With the IPL, the debate has been put to rest this season. It is making for the absolute perfect finish for the perfect finisher. Close well, MSD.
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