Dhoni is Dhoni - inimitable

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prabir ghose

05 April, 2009

Dhoni came in when India had lost six wickets for hardly 200 runs and it was the first day! He did not lose heart. He had full faith in his own abilities as well in his tail enders. And India finally finished the day with a respectable 395 runs.

WHEN MS Dhoni said that he is not very important to the team, he was humility personified. He had to sit out due to the back problem and even up to the last moment, it was not sure whether he would be able to play in the decider test match in Wellington. But, he did and in his inimitable style, steered his ship to safety when the stalwarts had forgotten that they had to give their all to help create history in Kiwiland. Dhoni came in when India had lost six wickets for hardly 200 runs – and it was the first day! He did not lose heart. He had full faith in his own abilities as well in his tail enders. And India finally finished the day with a respectable 395 runs which at one point seemed a distant dream.

The second day saw his bowlers go after the batsmen and while Zaheer Khan once again captured five wickets and Harbhajan three, Dhoni himself equaled Kirmani’s record of dismissals behind the stumps – six! The Kiwis were all out for 197 giving the Indians a lead of 180 odd runs. To this lead, the Indians added and kept on adding. Sehwag left early and Sachin contributed hardly anything, but Gautam Gambhir went on to score another century.

The celebrations are to begin – a win in Kiwiland after 41 years is an occasion to be rightly proud of. It was in 1967-68 that India won the four-test series 3-1 under the captaincy of the Nawab of Pataudi. The team comprised stars of Indian cricket like Farookh Engineer, EAS Prasanna, Bapu Nadkarni, Bishen Singh Bedi and Ajit Wadekar.