Mahendra Singh Dhoni's contribution to Indian cricket is beyond question.
As a captain, he has seen it all: India making it to the top of the Test rankings, winning the 20-20 world cup and also the conventional format world cup.
He has also been very successful as the skipper of the ‘Chennai Super Kings’.
What Dhoni would have perhaps preferred at the end of the day was better relationships with the legendary players who have exited before him.
That a soft-spoken gentleman like VVS Lakshman was miffed with Dhoni is perhaps an indication of Dhoni’s style of functioning.
At the end of the day, even Sehwag, Sachin and Yuvraj were not on the best of terms with Dhoni but were professional enough not to wash their dirty linen in public.
Apart from that, Dhoni has been a role model to many budding cricketers in the country.
Beginning with the swashbuckling 148 he got against Pakistan at the one-day in Visakhapatnam after being promoted up the order which announced his arrival to his last test in Australia, it has been a journey of remarkable perseverance and fortitude.
And yet, much like his predecessor, Anil Kumble, Dhoni choose to surrender rather than let the dressing room atmosphere get murkier.
When Anil Kumble was the captain of the test side, Dhoni was captain for the one-days and was having more success as a captain. Naturally, calls were raised by Dhoni’s camp to elevate Dhoni as captain of the test side as well.
On India’s tour of Sri Lanka, India lost the first test and Kumble was injured for the second one. Dhoni took over and India won the match more due to VVS Lakshman’s brilliance with the bat rather than Dhoni’s captaincy. However, the win put immense pressure on Kumble who reading the signs, promptly declared his retirement allowing Dhoni to take over completely.
Kumble took a decision in the larger interests of Indian cricket for having an ambitious Dhoni in the dressing room itching to take over the captaincy from him would only make things worse.
Today, Dhoni and Virat Kohli share pretty much the same equation and Dhoni has probably decided to take a leaf out of Kumble’s book.
It is a decision taken in the larger interests of the team!
