Dear MS Dhoni, I hate you. The first reason I hate you is because you became the captain of the Indian team and all the senior members of the team – Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman – had to go out. Yes, my hatred for you began since that day. For you Ganguly, Laxman and Dravid were slow fielders and didn’t make the cut in your “new team”. But they were pure batsmen with class written all over them. Anyway, that’s the day I hated you the most when my idol Sourav Ganguly was not on the team anymore.
The second reason why I hate you is because whenever India was winning, you came out to bat according to your convenience. Why? Is it because you wanted to maintain your strike rate and average? Yes. India needed 20 runs with 8 wickets remaining and you would come out and score those runs. Yes, you have made India win many matches that we wouldn’t have won without you. But there were matches where other batsmen could have also seen us through. You came up the order and scored those runs. I thought you were a selfish player and I hated you for that.
Over the years, my hatred for you changed. Under your captaincy, we won the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup and the 2011 World Cup. It took us 28 years to lift the World Cup again. Why were you not on the team before? Why did we have to wait for 28 years? That’s the reason why I hated you. And I knew, with your captaincy skills, you deserved much. Captain Cool, the way you led the team is exemplary.
My next reason to hate you is your recent announcement that you are retiring from the post of being India’s captain in ODIs and T20Is. Just when I started to believe we were invincible, just when India was on the way to glory. Yes MS Dhoni, I hate you. But my reasons to hate you have changed. India will never get a captain like you and that void will never be filled. Virat Kohli, with his aggression and attacking gameplay, may win more matches than you did as a captain. But MS Dhoni, you’ll always be the best wicket-keeper captain that India will ever see. We will miss you.
Just don’t make this announcement that you are retiring from the team as a player as well. We will miss you as a captain but we hope you continue to play in the team as we are not in any state to lose a performer like you.
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