Why every Dhoni fan is dreading the arrival of the 2019 World Cup
The ICC World Cup 2019 is just around the corner. Cricket fans all over the world are getting excited about the event; the four-week countdown to the quadrennial extravaganza well and truly on.
But I am not enjoying any of it. The countdown to the beginning of the tournament unsettles me, with a dark sense of insecurity enveloping my whole being.
Why? Because the end of the World Cup might well be the end of MS Dhoni’s playing career for India.
You see, the biggest problem with Captain Cool is his sheer unpredictability. And the most unique part about Dhoni is that the more you see him, the more inaccessible he seems to get. The mask, with each passing year, has only thickened.
The question of Dhoni’s retirement had first surfaced in the year 2016. India had just lost the World T20 semi-final to West Indies, and an Australian Journalist had asked Dhoni whether he had played his last match for India in limited overs cricket. Dhoni had given a tongue in cheek reply to him, stating that he would carry on till the 2019 World Cup.
Three years later, here we are, on the threshold. The one thing that had motivated Dhoni so strongly, is arriving. It is barely four weeks away.
After the end of the World Cup, what can possibly motivate Dhoni to carry on? How long will he continue? And most importantly, how long will we allow him to?
For over 15 years now, Dhoni has been captivating and bewitching the cricketing world. He is not a gifted genius like Sachin Tendulkar, who can make you fall for him with the splendor in his stroke play. But he is unique. He has played the sport in the way that he wanted to, and most importantly, the way that only he can.
Like all great journeys, this one has to end too. That is just the nature of sport. But there are certain sportsmen who capture your imagination, and take you to places that nobody else can - and we never want the journeys of those players to end.
Dhoni has, over the last decade and a half, lived out a fairytale on the cricket field. He has made a nation dream, and has given them hope that you need not be the most gifted to become the most successful. He has been a beacon of light, a light that has spread the most glorious sunshine with its luminous sparkle.
Now, the sun is going to set. And most likely, it will happen after the end of cricket’s biggest event. That is what has made his fans so insecure - we dread the arrival of the World Cup, because we know it is a herald of the end.
The end of the World Cup, might well mean the end of Dhoni’s career as well. How can anyone be happy about that?