Hate you MSD

“Thanks a lot for your love and support throughout. From 19:29 hours, consider me as retired.”

This tweet was followed by social media going crazy and even prompted the Prime Minister to write a two page long letter eulogizing MSD and, among other people, the Infy founder, Narayana Murthy, telling us the leadership lessons corporate India must learn from Dhoni. I wonder why do some people have all the luck and I am not one among those lucky few. So I hate you Dhoni…many times over.

I hate you Dhoni for having been born in Ranchi. The PM makes a hero of you by saying,” rising from humble beginnings in a small town, you burst onto the national scene, made a name for yourself and most importantly made India proud. Where we come from does not matter as long as we know where we are headed - this is the spirit that you have exuded and inspired many youngsters with”. Is it my fault that I was born and raised in Delhi, married in Kolkata and lived in Mumbai? Maybe had I been born at Cherrapunji, I would have got noticed more. Incidentally, Infy and Dhoni were both born on 7^th July 1981.

I hate you MSD for your success. See how many things you have won….the World T20 in 2007, ICC World ODI championship in 2011, Champions Trophy in 2013 and to add to it three IPL and many more. And when I look back , what have I won…some medals for running, a few trophies and some certificates at school, college and at work place but nothing to really write about. You achieved so much more in just fifteen years while I am still slogging for over thirty long years waiting for my place in the sun!

I hate you MSD for being so calm in all crisis like situations. On the day of the T20 final, 24^th Sept 2007, against Pakistan, India had scored 157. Pakistan was at 145 for 9 when the last over started. The well-set Misbah-ul-Huq was batting confidently on 37 with three sixes. Out of nowhere you brought in Joginder Sharma to bowl. Misbah hit a six off the second ball. Everybody was tense and though the match was lost. Off you went and spoke to Joginder to calm him down…maybe you said Oye Jogi chinta na kar. In the very next ball from Joginder, Misbah scooped it up and Sreesanth took a well-judged catch. India had won! Mahendra Bhai, when faced with a difficult situation, I feel like hiding, procrastinating and quitting and often the fear of losing makes me miss opportunities. I remember a situation in an inter-college football match, I got an opportunity to head the ball into the net and take my team to the final and I missed. How many times have I missed penalty shots and failed my team and self….situation gets the better of me but not you.

I hate you for the being one of the most successful captains and for taking India to the top of the world charts in almost all formats of the game. Narayana Murthy says, as a leader you crafted a grand vision, articulated it, and raised the aspiration, confidence, pride, hope and enthusiasm of your people and went on to achieve great success. You know MSD, I never had a Gary Kirsten to support me or else I, too, would have turned the dipping fortunes of my business charts to ensure the grand plans created moved up and not down. Anyway,as someone said, “Success has a proud parentage and failure is a poor orphan.”

I hate you Long Hairy Creature for your dependability in tough situations and your style of finishing matches. Who can forget the last ball of the World ODI Cup Final in 2011 between India and Sri Lanka? When you hit that helicopter-wala sixer on your way to an unbeaten 91 and won the match for India, a billion hearts erupted in joy. And the great Gavaskar said that he would like to spend the last minute of his life watching you hit that winning six in that 2011 World Cup Final and joyfully leave this world. I am a starter and not a finisher. Often, I start many a thing good, take them to a plane but, somehow, have never been able to hit the ball so high to take it over the ropes. There is always someone there at the boundary line to take the catch and get me out. There have been high points for me as well but yet to have a Gavaskar like encomium written.

I hate you for being able to balance your personal life with your professional priorities. Almost at all major matches, I can spot Sakshi watching you play and cheer for you. It seems the Prime Minister himself remembers, “Seeing a picture of you playing with your cute daughter even as everyone around you was celebrating a victory in a particular tournament!” I have never known, in over three decades of working, what is this business of balancing life and work. Work outweighs all personal priorities and, somehow, don’t remember my wife and kiddo watching me play and celebrate.

I hate you for not just being a good player but also for being a great ambassador of the game. Why did you have to recall Ian Bell in the summer of 2011? Technically the batsman was out but you showed your sportsmanship and recalled the man. The ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat, said "The initial appeal and umpire decision may have been acceptable to the letter of the law, the decision by India captain MS Dhoni and his team - as well as the Team India coaching staff - to withdraw the appeal shows great maturity”. When I was young and got out on a controversial decision, I would take my bat away and made sure the game ended till I was recalled…not really upholding the spirit of the game. But so what, “jiski laathi, uski bhains!”

There are many more reasons for me to hate you….you could keep your Goldilocks hair but in my Irish Brothers’ school they would put chewing gum to make sure we could return next day with a crew cut…you are a Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army and I flunked my NDA exam killing my dream of wearing the army fatigue. But the most important reason for me to hate you was when you suddenly became my daughter’s idol… a huge poster of yours entered my house. No father can accept anyone replacing him as the ultimate hero! And as luck would have it, one fine day, I was at a hotel in Mumbai where CSK team was putting up when a friend said he could get your autograph for my daughter and there it was before me a miniature bat signed by the one and only MSD! How come my daughter never asked for my autograph till date? No wonder my hatred for you knows no bounds!

I am on the lookout for those two hundred people who pulled down the walls and pillars of your under construction Ranchi house in 2007 after Bangladesh Tigers beat your team at the World Cup at Port of Spain. The day I find them Col. Dhoni, I shall extract my pound of flesh. Till then O Captain My Captain, I shall pray and cheer for your victory at the Desert IPL…Salute O Thala Dhoni…there will never be another you.

SS