The absence of MS Dhoni in the Chennai Super Kings - Will the Indian Premier League be the same?
Tuesday will be a landmark day in the history of the Indian Premier League(IPL). The Chennai Super Kings(CSK) and the Rajasthan Royals, who had been such popular teams of the tournament for different reasons, will make way for two new teams from Pune and Rajkot for a period of two years.
While I never supported both teams passionately in the tournament itself, I, like a lot of fans, am left a bit sad by their departure, especially that of the former.
If there is one thing that every side in international sport seeks for, it is consistency. The ability to show up year after year and finish among the best teams is a quality that all want and it is something the CSK did season after season. A total of 6 appearances in finals and wins in two of those.
But more than the franchise, I would miss their talisman or 'Thala' as he is known in the city, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, turn up in his yellow jersey and get the huge crowd on its feet each time he made his presence felt.
When Dhoni was picked by the franchise in 2008, he was coming into the unit after having tasted a lot of success in the limited-overs format for India, having won the World T20 title and the Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia.
But there would have been a few who must have thought, “ Dhoni for Chennai? How can that happen? Will it work?”Over the course of the next 8 years, not only did it work but succeeded to the extent that the fans started to identify the team with him.
But for me, Dhoni won't be remembered for his trophies or victories, as much as he will be for the way he marshalled his troops.
How CSK captain Dhoni will be remembered
Right from season 1, he knew how to get the best out of his players. Whether it was the way he revitalised the career of Suresh Raina by asking him to bat at 3 to give him sufficient overs, the manner in which he gave the likes of Shadab Jakati, who was such a key factor in their win in the 2010 edition, an opportunity to be an important cog in the CSK wheel, His role in the emergence and further growth of Ravichandran Ashwin etc.
When it came to the way he led the team, with regards to tactics, Dhoni had his own way to tackling a situation and few of his calls will be in the minds of a lot of us. Like how he got rid of the dangerous-looking Kieron Pollard in the final of the 2010 IPL, by keeping a fielder(Matthew Hayden) almost right behind the umpire and asked the bowler to bowl a wide ball so that he would have to reach for it and thereby not time it as well.
Or like how he got rid of an in-form Chris Gayle in the final of the 2011 edition, against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru(RCB), by asking Ashwin to bowl the 1st over, knowing well that the burly Jamaican didn't like facing off-spinners or the ball coming off the pitch much slower. The move proved to be a masterstroke, as the left-hander was dismissed in the opening over itself, thereby putting huge pressure on the RCB chase.
Right throughout, there were few skippers, whom I can think off who thought as cleverly, sometimes cheesily as Dhoni did. He could almost write his own book of captaining a team.
However, I can't quite praise him in the same manner when it comes to his exploits with the bat in hand. For a large portion of the eight years, he came to the middle with very little overs left and while he had the option of coming higher up, he didn't do so.
He did play a few cameo innings like the knock against the Mumbai Indians in the eliminator of 2012 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where he hit one of the biggest sixes off Corey Anderson and also played an outrageous helicopter shot off Lasith Malinga in a 20-ball 51 not out that helped his side eventually win and stay alive in the competition.
And so as we get set for two new teams in the League, we need to ask ourselves a few questions: Will Dhoni be able to lead a different group of players for two years, at Pune or Rajkot, like the way he did in CSK? Will he be able to deliver with the new franchise, just like he did with CSK?
But most importantly, will we ever see Dhoni again in a yellow jersey and the fans at the Chepauk chanting his name on top of their voices? A lot of interesting times lie ahead.