Line & Length: Destiny's child Dhoni has a big decision to make ahead of WC

‘Mahi’ is on the lips and minds of everyone now. Will the spirit of the dashing wielder of the heavy willow with the ability to pouch all those athletic catches behind the wicket be intact till India swing into the 2019 World Cup? It is also a question of whether his body can take the pounding for a couple of years more. Will he take a leaf out of Roger Federer’s book and learn to take breaks in between and keep himself in the running for his fourth World Cup?

This is also the time that the book M.S. Dhoni, A child of Destiny by veteran journalist K. R. Wadhwaney has hit the stands. A brutally frank compilation on this natural cricketer presents some remarkable insights into the game and one of its great personalities. It is hard to define the book though. It is not an authorised biography. But it does a stellar service in saying many things with the uncluttered honesty of an observer of the cricket scene.

Among the many books on Indian cricket, not one may have mentioned this in as forthright a manner as Wadhwaney has done. He says, “The most important transformation that came about in Indian cricket was that Mumbai became part of India instead of India being part of Mumbai’s cricket”. He writes that sterling nugget of history while recalling how four stars changed Indian cricket and how all of them were destiny’s children in one way or the other – ‘Tiger’ Pataudi, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni

The early days of Dhoni, the demonstration of talent in a double hundred in a limited-overs game for his DAV (Shyamali) school after forcing the games teacher to allow him to open – the teacher, Keshab Ranjan Banerjee, at first refused but then said he could do so if he was willing to take on the responsibility of his actions in choosing where to bat and with whom he would go out – are very well told. And Mahi and partner were undefeated in a partnership of 378 with Dhoni making 213 and Shabbir 117 when they ran out of overs. The throwing of light on who gave the first full-fledged cricket kit to this talented young man of very modest means was another early gem. Dhoni was said to have placed the kit at his mother’s feet before using any of the brand new pads and gloves.

The tale of a railway ticket examiner often found checking passenger tickets on the platform of Kharagpur in West Bengal, rising to the very pinnacle of fame and fortune in Indian cricket is a fascinating one. Now this story is not told in the classic chronological order. In keeping with Dhoni’s batting style, this is more a gathering of thoughts from various episodes. The stories from his early life, which shed light on how much Dhoni represents the great family values of life in India, are the ones that are gripping as the lad from Ranchi vaults to the national stage.

Snubbed by the system as the Ranji Trophy selectors of the Railways decided he did not have it in him to make it to first class cricket after giving him a very brief run at the trials in Delhi, Dhoni returned the compliment when they needed him later by picking Air India over the Railways to take his career ahead and preferred to be Bihar or Jharkhand’s ‘CK’ as his fans called him, naming him after the great Nayudu of Nagpur.

An all-natural style that showed little of the effects of any coaching would certainly put him in the CK class. Would a highly coached batsman ever go on to invent the helicopter shot is a thought well worth asking when it comes to the benefits of formal coaching programmes. We look forward with anticipation to Dhoni’s decision to back himself to play the World Cup. This is the spirit with which Dhoni has played the game thus far, as Wadhwaney, a veteran writer of seventh biography and 30th book, has brought out so well.