The atheist Dhoni
I might have raised some conservative eyebrows and ruffled some conservative feathers with this audacious title. The connotation is well-suited though. In India, where cricket is a religion, Dhoni is surely an atheist. This is his way of playing cricket; of treating it as a mere game. Yes, just a game and nothing more. He always plays with this ‘no frills attached’ style, with minimal emotions involved. And that was apparent at M. Chidambaram Stadium, where he played that aggressive game-winning knock of 224. It was a great innings if you judge it by many parameters. The pitch, the situation, the attack, and the weather were the adversities. It takes something to hit a double century on a spinner’s paradise in sultry humidity, and that too, at a strike rate of almost 84.52!
But what made this knock special and possible, is the head he carries on that strong shoulders. With no emotional attachment to the game, he keeps the cool when the milestones come near. And the subdued celebration at 100 and 200 reflected this. Most batsmen would thank God, jump in the air, punch fists or run with ecstasy, but this Ranchi boy just raised the bat and went on with his business. No fuss about it, like a non-significant fifty had been scored.
And to think of it, it was a special moment indeed. Dhoni was at the centre of criticism, especially his Test temperament, and his skills were being questioned. To score a double century that way, was special. It was a captain’s knock in the first Test of a highly-valued series. It meant something, and emotions were bound to come in. But, they never did. It amazes me, the way he turns off the heart and turns on the mind while he is on the field. No other player comes to my mind, who had this level of poise in his head. The fact that he finishes ODIs with not-outs testifies this quality.
At Chennai, Dhoni achieved individual feats with that defining knock. But, his feat as a captain didn’t make much news. It was Dhoni’s 21st test win as a captain, equalling Ganguly’s number for most Test wins as an Indian Test captain. When he takes the field on 2nd March in Hyderabad, he would look to surpass India’s most adored captain in Tests, who ironically never refrained from expressing emotions – be it the Natwest win or his memorable centuries.
With all this said, I don’t mean to debase the ones who celebrate with emotional overdose, nor do I mean to blame Dhoni for lacking a rush of adrenaline. I just get amazed with the impassive way with which this man plays a game for which a billion hearts pound. As I said, in a religion called cricket, an atheist called Dhoni plays in his own unique way, be it his batting or temperament. Some conservative and conventional followers of this religion won’t like it that much. But he plays for the rest, for whom cricket is just a game.