“The Dhoni Touch" By Bharat Sundaresan
MS Dhoni is truly one of the greatest leaders the game of cricket has seen. Some of his finest qualities include staying calm under pressure, staying focused, leading from the front and setting an example, backing the team, respecting the opponent, handling success and failure, having gut-feel decision-making skills, controlling the controllables, etc. Apart from the above, Dhoni is very generous, If we ask him one thing, he will provide ten suggestions. Dhoni is selfless, he always thinks about others. He does not get complacent when the team wins and does not get bogged down either when the team loses. He always believes in the process and not on the outcome, because if we concentrate on the process, then the result will always be mellifluous. In the book “The Dhoni Touch” by Bharat Sunderasen, the author has tracked down Dhoni’s closest friend, Chittu, and has fruitfully presented the cricketer’s different facets of personal and professional life. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s (MSD) life and career have been nothing less than inspirational. Every reader will find in this book something that will stay with them.
Chittu:
Seemant Lohani, better known as Chittu, is Dhoni’s oldest school friend; they both met at DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir School. Nobody knows Dhoni better than him. He describes MSD as shy, introverted, and a write the answer to the point kind of guy. He also reveals about Dhoni’s love for bikes, his collection includes Ducati, Harley-Davidson, X132 Hellcat etc.
The MECON Boy:
When cricketers hailed from metropolises like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai, it was Dhoni who showed the world that any small-town boy could achieve great things in mainstream cricket. Chittu says that Ranchi was pretty much known as an institution for the mentally ill before, and only after the meteoric rise of MSD, in less than a decade, had he ended up putting Ranchi and Mecon colony on the world map.
Keshav Lal Banerjee:
Keshav Lal Banerjee, originally from Kolkata, was the only cricket coach Dhoni ever had, although many claim to be responsible for the MS Dhoni phenomenon. MSD was an ardent football player from the outset; it was Banerjee who instilled the cricketing zeal in him. Banerjee vividly remembers MSD as a confident guy through thick and thin. In 2001, when MSD was competing with Ajay Ratra and Deep Dasgupta for a spot in the India A team, unfortunately he fractured his hand and could not make it, and when Banerjee checked on him, he said in his own cool way, “Don’t worry sir, I know I’ll get one more chance.” Before playing for India, MSD played for multiple teams on the domestic circuit, like SAIL, Central Coal Limited (CCL), Railways, Ranji, and the India A team.
The Fauji Captain
On March 17th, 2017, the Jharkhand team had to hurriedly evacuate the ITC Welcome, a five-star hotel in Delhi. When players were having breakfast, fire broke out, and it was MSD who led the mission, helping all players safely evacuate the building through the basement, said Col. Shankar, an army associate who was there when the fire incident happened. This clearly goes to show how MSD thinks in emergency situations and how great a leader he is in times of adversity. MSD has great curiosity towards the military; he has made many NSG (National Security Group) commandos his friends, and he also goes out of his way to buy as many tickets as possible for his army buddies. It’s also common for the housekeeping staff, who clean MSD’s room, and the waiter to get at least two tickets for every match.
The Mahi Way
MSD is a complete package when it comes to captaincy. He knows the production guys, the marketing guys, and the finance team, knows how to delegate the tasks accordingly, and gets the best out of each of them. He has always been at his supreme best, be it leading a team of captains or superstars like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Sehwag, Laxman, Harbhajan, Zaheer, or Nehra, or leading a team of raw and untested talents and winning the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. He also led the star-studded CSK line-up of Matthew Hayden, Stephen Fleming, Muthiah Muralitharan, and Ntini.
Strategies
When India played Australia back in February 2008, with Dhoni and Rohit at the crease with 10 runs to win, Dhoni asked for a change of gloves. This was done intentionally to send a message to the dressing room to not celebrate much after the win and show the Aussies that winning against them is not a big deal. This is how MSD alluded to the fact that these kinds of wins will happen over and over again and that they are not a fluke.
He has more confidence in his decisions than most of us normal people do, says Chittu. We can still vividly remember his position behind the stumps during the India vs. Pakistan bowl out at the T20 World Cup; he just kneeled down right behind the stumps, creating a perfect angle for Sehwag, Uthappa, and Harbhajan to have a hit at the stumps. We have to see Kamran Akmal’s position to realise Dhoni’s brilliance in this case.
Dhoni’s decision to make Joginder Sharma bowl the final over at the T20 World Cup final shows his gut-feel decision-making skills. He went near Joginder and gave him the ball, saying that “he has six balls to create history”. He also discovered the innate ability of R Ashwin to bowl the first over well in T20 matches.
He firmly believes in the principle of controlling the controllables — he can only control what is under his control. He goes out, does the basics right, and keeps things simple.
Pythogoras behind the stumps
MSD holds the record for the most number of stumpings in ODI cricket, with 123 stumpings in 350 matches. Kiran More, the former Indian selector, believes that it is the self-learned technique of positioning himself well behind the stumps that gives him an extra two seconds and a 90 percent strike rate as a stumper. He says MSD has redefined stumping.
The spin duo of Chahal and Kuldeep say that Dhoni behind the stumps will do 50 percent of their work. He has played so much cricket that he reads the batsmen so quickly and keeps advising the bowlers, making it easier for them.
Thala
Thala is simply Tamil for head. In Chennai, Dhoni is fondly called Thala. V.B. Chandrasekhar says that in Chennai, when they see Dhoni’s face, they see Lion, and when they see Lion’s face, they see Dhoni.
MSD has crossed milestones, set records, and truly redefined the way the sport is played in the country. Kiran More believes that MS Dhoni’s career should be turned into a case study so that his core values could be imbibed by many young talents. This book shows how Dhoni’s feet firmly remained on the ground even after achieving groundbreaking victories and reaching dizzying heights. It is a must read for everyone.