M.S. Dhoni ICC Hall of Fame | A moment to cherish for an extraordinary leader of men Premium

MS Dhoni, the enigmatic cricket legend, inducted into ICC Hall of Fame, leaving a lasting legacy of humility and success.

Nearly a month before his 44th birthday (July 7), Mahendra Singh Dhoni received an early gift. On Monday in London, he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, a little less than six years after his last international outing. There was no fairytale exit for the former captain, whose final game for the country ended in unshed tears and bitter disappointment following the semifinal elimination by New Zealand in the 50-over World Cup in Manchester on July 10, 2019. But Dhoni’s propensity for detached attachment means he would have put that heartbreak behind him not long after the loss and geared up for the next phase of his life.

In a world where people measure the currency of their popularity by the number of followers on social media – of whom he has millions – and a constant desire, whether by choice or otherwise, to keep staying in the public eye, Dhoni is a spectacular exception. He is still an enigma to his vast legion of supporters, assiduously refusing to court attention, surfacing in the lead-up to a fresh season of the Indian Premier League and then retreating to relative obscurity, inasmuch as someone of his stature can become obscure, for months on end, happy in his own world of parents, wife, daughter, bikes, dogs…

This isn’t a calculated, well-planned formula to ensure that the fans keep wanting more of him, to see more of him. That’s how he is wired. That’s how he always has been. When he was the captain, the door to his hotel room was open till such time that he was awake. No one needed to ring him up to ascertain if he was free or if they could drop in. It was literally open door, but when he closed it shut late at night, he was oblivious to the world.

There is a fascinating story of how, when a former senior functionary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India passed away, the support staff just couldn’t get in touch with him even though they were all in the same hotel. His cell phone was switched off, he had put the hotel phone on ‘Do not disturb’. By then, Dhoni had retired from Test cricket but he was still the limited-overs captain and had great regard for the administrator who was no more. Out of respect for his skipper and to ensure that tongues didn’t wag about (non-existent) differences were they to travel separately to pay their respects, Test captain Virat Kohli waited patiently and accompanied Dhoni in a later flight while some of the senior management staff flew out early in the morning.

Dhoni evokes such emotions, without making an effort to do so. His presence in the Hall of Fame should come as no surprise. After all, he is his country’s most successful captain, rising from the hinterlands to establish himself as the ultimate poster boy of Indian cricket even when the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, among others, were going strong.

Every year for the last five seasons, towards the end of Chennai Super Kings’ IPL campaign, speculation reaches fever pitch over Dhoni’s imminent retirement. Each year, he has smiled enigmatically, made a few off-hand remarks and allowed the speculation to mount for the next several weeks. It was no different last month when he pithily remarked that he didn’t have to make an immediate decision about his future when he had months to do so. Door open, you say?

Dhoni had already played for nearly five seasons since his First Class and List-A debuts for Bihar in 1999-2000 when he travelled with the India-Aside for a triangular series in Nairobi, under Sairaj Bahutule, in August 2004. One afternoon, the phone warbled — a former India fast bowler who was commentating on the tournament from the venue was on the line, almost demanding that one switched on the TV and watched ‘this guy, this incredible guy’ take the bowling apart. Batting at No. 3 in a league fixture against a Pakistan ‘A’ side helmed by Misbah-ul-Haq, Dhoni smashed a 122-ball 120 at the Nairobi Gymkhana as India batted first.