Wednesday 18 / September / 2024
AFTER the dust-storm that hit Dhaka a couple of hours before start of play in the Asia Cup final between India and Bangladesh petered out and the rains died down, and as the Bangla fans got ready for what could have been a nail-biting final two overs and a dramatic triumph at the end of a long, wet night, MS Dhoni sent the first of the 12 balls over the midwicket boundary for a huge six.
That may have sucked life out of the sick mind who had posted on Twitter the revolting morphed image of Taskin Ahmed giving out a victory cry holding the severed head of the Indian skipper. That was cocky, cavalier 104-metre-long justice to a pathetic mindset.
The Asian issue was ruthlessly settled by Dhoni and Virat Kohli in just five balls, knocking up 20 runs with an over and a ball to spare, denying the home team an honorable chance of taking the matter to the final ball that may have taken some sting off the defeat and offered fresh fodder for the sick mind to morph more mischief.
Curiously, the villain of the Sunday piece was Taskin, the man who was morphed into a hero-in-the making soon after the home team had dumped Pakistan and booked a title clash with India. Taskin bowled well.
He conceded just 14 runs in his three overs, broke the almost-match-winning partnership picking up the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan in the 13th over and, at that stage, with India needing 22 runs from just 14 balls, it looked like it was the best thing that happened to turn the tide in favour of the home team.
The best thing, if only it wasn’t Dhoni who walked out onto the pitch at that tricky, quirky but hopeful moment for Bangladesh.
What Dhoni did in seven minutes he was at the crease was magic he was known to conjure up at short notice, but he owed a warm ‘thank you’ to his deputy, Kohli, for building the perfect platform for him to step in and wave the band.
Without Kohli walking in at No. 3 when one or both openers perish inside the first couple of overs with pretty little to feel at ease on the scoreboard, and then driving the opposition to the point of hopeless frustration, it wouldn’t have been easy for the lower-order guys to sit comfortably in their seats in the dugout.
The difference between Kohli and the others — those who share the dressing room with him at the moment and the ones who turned up in the Indian colours before him — comes down to what it really matters: winning.
Kohli is a match-winner on almost all occasions he plays a big game, while most others were or are not, even though they crafted impressive personal scores.
It’s this fact, which gets proven match after match, that puts the rivals into a spot of bother as Kohli strolls in and gets used to the pitch and the proceedings.
One of the best things that happened to Kohli, as we get know from his frank confession about his perceived limitations, is his acceptance of what he couldn’t do — playing a Dhoni or Chris Gayle kind of game that packs brutish punch and awesome six-appeal — and his adjustment to compensate for the shortcoming.
Kohli’s total honesty about his limitations has only compounded his rivals’ problems.
Here’s a man who picks the gaps at will and takes the risk seldom, who’s not going to gift his wicket with any silly rush of blood, and who turns every second he spends at the crease into runs, in singles, twos, fours and that occasional six.
And he’s just 27 years and a few months old: the best is yet to be.
Now that Ravi Shastri’s boys have got the ‘bloody job done’ the way the team director had wanted them to in the Asian context of things in the shortest format of the game, the world is the next limit.
Obviously, Dhoni is feeling cheeky, sassy about “13-14 match-winners” at his disposal — what a pleasant, positive turnaround for the Indian skipper who until a year ago used to drag on with a poker face about the lack of resources at his command, both in bowling and at the lower order.
Now is the time Dhoni could look forward to walking into the sunset with a cute, naughty smile.
The writer is a freelance contributor based in India. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman
