The Two Sides of MS Dhoni

By: Sandipan Bose

He means business on the field. But off it, Rising Pune Supergiants’ captain MS Dhoni is the boy next door. He is wise, funny, academic, weighty, wholehearted, diplomatic, respectful, caring, humble, patient, remembers past accomplishments, and doesn’t like hurting anyone.

In short he is the man of the moment in Indian cricket. Despite possessing such qualities of personal grace, Dhoni is extremely fierce on the field.

You see him swinging his bat with such vigor, and hitting the ball out the park at will, displaying some truly baffling traits every time he makes an appearance on-field .

Last Thursday was no different at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Dhoni came into bat just when Pune was on the verge of losing the momentum while chasing down their winning target following some tight bowing by the Delhi Daredevils’ spinners in the 14th over.

Still needing 59 runs from 40 balls, the asking rate was more than nine runs. Fans were at the edge of their seats after the 17th over ended as the required run-rate climbed up to 12.33.

Dhoni had other plans. He started the over quietly and slowly got into the groove with some powerful hits to the fence to put Pune in the driver’s seat.

His second six of the match against Delhi’s Mohammad Shami was a treat to watch. He danced down the track, got to the pitch of the ball and slammed it straight to the side-screen for a six with a wild swing of his bat.

Unfortunately, he got out to a brilliant catch in the mid-wicket region, though by this time Pune were sniffing an eminent victory.

As expected, Pune won the match and Dhoni returned and after spending sometime in the post-match presentation area, he was with Rahul Dravid for more than 20 minutes – discussing the nuances of the game.

Actually, it was Dravid who was doing most of the talking while Dhoni was listening to him like a good student of the game, absorbing every observation of another legend of the game arms sedately folded behind him.

This was quite a sight. Before packing-off, he exchanged some more pleasantries with some more known faces. With this Dhoni was battle-ready for yet another day of cricket!