Hi All,
On a relaxing note, other than market one other passion which many of have is cricket, and off late a lot is been happening on that front, following is a nice article found on crictracker, putting it here as it is also what I think about MSD
(http://www.crictracker.com/an-open-letter-to-ms-dhoni-from-a-cricket-fan/)
An Open Letter to MS Dhoni from a Cricket Fan:
Dear Mahendra Singh Dhoni,
Some say you had the share of luck which made you a successful captain, while some say you are just a cricketing freak, a few also feel that you have the tendency to pick your favourite players in the squad and benching the rest. Lastly, some of the so-called ‘fans’ even say that you are the cause of India’s dreadful performances in the foreign soils.
Well, to say the least, I do not fall under the niche of such plastic fans. Undoubtedly, the name MS Dhoni, the small-town boy rising to be one of the prominent leaders of Indian Cricket is no freak and I do admire you for your gigantic fruitful contributions for the Indian team which made us prouder as a Cricketing nation. So, as a token of gratitude, I would like to portray your prosperous stature thereby falsifying such inglorious comments.
At a time, when the Indian team lacked a genuine wicket keeping batsman, Dravid had to fulfill the job for the wicket keeper of the team. But it was MS Dhoni who revolutionized the stature of being a wicket keeper in the Indian team. In the initial days of your career, you simply defined aggression and pointed out the fact how brute-force while batting with apt hand-eye co-ordination can bring galore of boundaries without involving much of a feet movement. In fact, your innings of 183 runs off 145 deliveries with 15 fours and 10 sixes against Sri Lanka in 2005 was enough to define your class as a batsman. In fact, a player with 8551 ODI runs at an average of over 52 by himself, speaks of the genuine class.
There was a time in 2007, post to the Natwest series in England, when Dravid resigned as the captain of the team, the fate of the Indian Cricket team looked to be in a state of jeopardy. It was you who shouldered the team and led right from the front as an example. In 2007 T20 World Cup, next to the woeful performance by the Indian side in the ICC World Cup earlier that year, none in the team went forward to take the responsibility to lead the squad. But there was one man, who led the team to a majestic triumphant march for the ICC World T20. It was you. Such incredible decisions in the ICC World T20 did reflect the potential in you to lead the country to further glories.
And after the ODI captaincy was vested upon your shoulders, you shone to take the team to an emphatic CB Series win in 2008 in Australia. Indian team achieved distinct levels of success under your leadership and were crowned as the number one test team in 2009. Obviously, the team did not become number one solely under Dhoni’s captaincy. But it is a fact that Dhoni carried on with the baton quite brilliantly to take India to that stature.
A lot has been talked about the retention of your favourite players. What some people fail to believe that you have immense faith upon your players. There was a time back in 2009-10 when Virat Kohli was repeatedly included in the playing XI despite his poor form and we all know how mature a batsman he has become now. Hadn’t he got those chances, he would not have been able to become the batsman he is now.
Owing to Yuvraj Singh’s poor form, the selectors opted to drop him from the World Cup squad in 2011 but you stood by Yuvraj’s side and included him and the rest is history. There was a time when Rohit Sharma’s place in the team was thoroughly criticized but just like a shielding branch, you gave him chances, even promoted him to open the batting and it paid off, the guy now has two double centuries in ODIs.
Also, you did show the respect you have for the seniors on a number of times. For instance, you asking Sourav to captain the side in his farewell test for 30 minutes or so on the final day. You did rely upon Sachin, Dravid, Laxman when India were having tough times. Still, due to lack of adequate pace bowlers and the lack of form of many of the players, India lost quite a number of matches overseas. But on that note, it got to be mentioned that India did win the Champions Trophy in 2013 on the English soils at circumstances when the cricketing sphere of the country was clouded by the stains of spot fixing scandals.
From being a fearless, hard-hitting batsman, you changed your nature as a batsman and sacrificed your pinch-hitting instincts in order to cope up with the role of a dependable batsman for the sake of the team. It was you who defended the penultimate ball of the last over in the semi final of ICC World T20, 2014 against South Africa just to ensure that Virat Kohli strikes the winning shot. It was under your leadership that India, after performing rather poorly against Australia prior to 2015 World Cup, went on to win 7 matches on a trot in the tournament. And statistically too, you stand to be the only Indian captain with over 100 wins in ODIs, the next best captain after Ricky Ponting with 11 consecutive wins in World Cup matches.
Haters will find many reasons to criticize but judging by the logical aspects of the game, your contributions to the Indian team is priceless to be brief. You held the baton and kept the team on the track when the team was through an era of change with players like Sachin, Dravid, Sourav, Laxman and Kumble retiring from international cricket. It would be somewhat foolish to describe your passion for the game. You preferred your national duty to personal issues and did not even see your daughter for over two months after she was born. That is the respect you have for your team and profession.
You are a role model for thousands of small-town youngsters who dream big. You stand to be a reality check for them that dreams do come true. From being a Railway ticket inspector, you emerged to be one of the most successful Indian captains. Very few people in the World possess such knowledgeable cricketing brains and you are a hard core cricketing mind packed with sheer coolness.
India would not have been the same cricketing nation if you were not there. Cricket hasn’t seen such a selfless leader as you who dedicates victories as team efforts and takes the entire blames on himself in case of failures. You deserve thorough respect from the billion fans, whom have had a thousand reasons to smile just because you picked cricket over all other priorities of your life.
Thank You MS, now words are enough to express your contribution but, I want to Thank you right from the bottom of my heart for everything that you have, silently and selflessly done for Indian cricket.
Yours sincerely,
A Cricket Fan.
