MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket on Saturday (August 15), bringing down the curtain on an illustrious career.
Dhoni’s achievement as a cricketer is awe-inspiring, to say the least. He boasts more than 17000 international runs and has etched his name in the history books as one of India’s finest leaders.
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Dhoni is the only skipper in the history of cricket to have won all the three ICC trophies – 2007 World T20, 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy. He has also led India to the pinnacle in Test cricket.
As the revered cricketer called time on his stellar career, wishes poured in for him from the cricketing fraternity. Ex-India pacer Ashish Nehra also penned a heartfelt tribute to his former captain.
“I first saw Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the early winter of 2004 before we were to go to Pakistan. It was the Duleep Trophy final and I had a stiff back but then skipper Sourav Ganguly told me that ‘Ashu, play the final and tell us how you feel’.
“It was the match where I first bowled to MS Dhoni and I don’t remember how much he scored but once you have played for India, you have an idea which player can make it. What I saw in that brief knock made me realise that he can survive in international cricket.
“At that time, I was consistently hitting 140kph and one of his strokes was a mis-hit that went for a six over third man. The sheer power amazed me,” Nehra wrote in a column for PTI.
Dhoni has 634 catches and 195 stumpings (world record) to his name across three formats.
Commenting on his keeping skills, Nehra said: “If you ask me about his keeping, he certainly wasn’t in the league of Syed Kirmani, Nayan Mongia or for that matter even Kiran More back then. But with time, he got better and when he ended his career, he was the keeper with the quickest hands due to his sheer cricket smartness.”
Sharing his first impression of Dhoni when he came into the dressing in 2004-05 season, Nehra remarked: “I would say he came across an introvert and was polite to a fault. Five of us — Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Zak (Zaheer Khan), and myself — had dinner together on most days during tours. I don’t recall Dhoni ever joining us. He was always reserved.”
“He would never go to any senior cricketer’s room and mostly kept to himself. That was 2004-05 but till I last played in 2017, he remained the same when it came to socialising. Approachable but an introvert, who loved being in his own room, which was open to all. Probably the only cricketer, who never went to anyone’s room but would welcome juniors in.”
“You could enter Mahi’s room, pick up the phone, order room service, play video games, talk cricket, and if you had an issues with regards cricket, you could tell him. But yes, no outside gossip, no backbiting. He never let discussions drift that side.”
“That’s why he always wanted issues in the dressing room sorted there only. Nothing was meant for consumption of outside world,” he explained.
Nehra also praised Dhoni’s man management skills and his control over emotions.
“No one could control emotions better than Dhoni. What do you think, he never felt hurt, insulted or angry? But he knew how to conceal it. It’s his second nature.
“He was a good reader of other people’s mind and that’s what made him one of the best man-managers the game has ever seen,” he said.
The former left-arm pacer also pointed out how wonderfully Dhoni managed him after his comeback to the national side.
“He handled my comeback and the phase between 2009 and 2011 really. He made me bowl the maximum overs in Powerplays and would use me in three or at times four spells,” he stated.
