Since 2015/16, I was ardently waiting for this day, but when I heard the news of Dhoni's retirement, I felt lachrymose. Yes, I am no more a Dhoni fan, but there was a time when I was a Dhoni fanatic. The fans are perhaps the most treacherous beings on this planet. We go gaga when a person is at the top and we are the first to abandon them when they fall. Hitherto, there haven't been a sportsperson who was at the top of his/her game throughout his/her career and Mahi was no different, but his purple patch was longer than many players's whole career.
Nevertheless, Dhoni was, is and will always will be one of the biggest pillars of India's glorious cricket history. I still remember the days, when all our wicket keepers used to do was keep wickets and score paltry 20-30 runs and we were content with that. We used to dream about having someone like Gilchrist and we never thought in our wildest dreams that we will get someone who is arguably better than Gilchrist. If you ask me, I feel Dhoni is better than Gilly.
If we go down the memory lane, there are umpteen number of instances of daredevilry of Mahi. But the clincher has to be the 2011 world cup winning six, which was something dreams are made of- winning the world cup via a six, this has happened just once and Dhoni did it. You will find every ICC trophy in Mahi's cabinet and that speaks volumes about the calibre of the man. He was a phenom, a once in a generation player, but his virtue which I am a fan of is his "tight-lipped-ness". I am a fidgety person. I am always on tender hooks, but being calm for 19 goddamn years, unresponsive to all the mud slinging and still performing unperturbed is a stuff of LEGENDS. There are only two people who are blessed with this virtue- Mahi and Sachin.
I know I have not been an ideal fan, but thank you Mahi. Thank you for everything, especially for Rohit Sharma, Ashwin and Jadeja. We are forever indebted to you. May you live long and prosper!!
"Gardaa udaa diyalah marde". "Jeeya Jwaan". (Bhojpuri)
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