Thank You So Much, Captain Cool!

Aug 15, 20203 min read

|By Prasham Pratap|

The evening of India's Independence Day in 2020 will always be remembered as one of the low points in the lives of all Indian cricket fans. The man who led India to its second World Cup victory has retired! MS Dhoni, in the most unexpected way, came onto his Instagram account at around 7:20 pm in the evening and just posted a video with the most shocking caption.

It read "Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout. from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired". There is only one cricketer in the world who could have done it so subtly and he has done it. No noise, no farewell, just a simple post to say goodbye.

On December 23 2004, when I was just a 4-year-old kid, this man, made his ODI debut against Bangladesh. I don't even remember if I was watching the game then. However, I do remember the 2007 World Cup and almost everything after that. What started in 2007 continued for another 10 long years! It was only in 2017 that MS Dhoni stepped down from captaincy and Virat Kohli took over Indian cricket.

MS Dhoni as the captain of the Indian side made India a side which is today a superpower in World Cricket. Just start listing the trophies India won under Captain Cool and you will be tired by the time you reach the end. That 6 in 2011 World Cup final. Every Indian fan has that SIX printed perfectly in his/her mind. Everyone knows that the bowler was Nuwan Kulasekara. Everyone knows that the six went over long-on, way back into the stands of the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Everyone also remembers the way Dhoni jumped after Ashwin bowled the last ball in the Champions Trophy final of 2013 against England. There are countless memories that this man gave to all Indian cricket fans and fans around the world. As many cricket experts rightly say that Dhoni is not just a player. He is an emotion. An emotion that gives every fan a sense of surety that there is still a way to win the match. An emotion of blind faith where if Dhoni is behind the stumps and he says its Out, then it is Out in most cases. There has been no other player who has been successful in instilling these kinds of emotions in the minds of the people watching them.

With Dhoni bidding adieu to international cricket, an era has ended. In the last 1 year, everyone was hoping of seeing Dhoni back in blue for at least one last time. Everyone expected him to be in the team that would be favourites to win the 2021 T20 World Cup to be held in India. But this simple Instagram post has left everyone shocked. Everyone knew it was coming. Everyone was prepared somewhere that someday, one of the greatest captains in the history of Indian cricket will hang his boots. But now when it has finally come, it hurts.

And to add to this, Suresh Raina has also followed his IPL skipper to retirement. Two stalwarts of Indian cricket saying goodbye is no ordinary thing for sure. However, the good news still remains that both these players are training in Chennai and will continue playing the IPL.

I could easily say that one cliche thing that many people might resonate with, and that is 'Indian cricket will never be the same'. But with the confidence that there will come a day when we will finally find someone who will justify his place, as well as MS Dhoni did, I would refrain from using that line. Although, what cannot be denied is the fact that MS Dhoni leaves behind a major void in the Indian cricket line-up which will be filled only after a lot of efforts. There is going to be no second Dhoni and we don't need a second Dhoni.

We need a new personality to stand up, come up to India's rescue, be a match-winner and somehow help us forget that Indian cricket is one legend short. For all the legendary moments given to me and all the Indian cricket fans across the world, I salute the legend of Indian cricket. Thank you so much Mahendra Singh Dhoni! You will be missed badly.