Thread on #MSDhoni: It was a time when wicket keepers changed as rapidly as the leaves in a New England Fall. There was never a sense of permanence since Nayan Mongia has donned the gloves. They came & went, some stayed longer: Saba Karim, MSK Prasad, Parthia Patel, Samir Dighe..

Ajay Ratra, Vijay Dahiya, heck evening Rahul Dravid was forced to keep wickets, both a testimony to his versatility, his teamman hat & the fact there was a cry for permanence behind the wicket. Enter #MSDhoni. Few thought of much a long-haired, swashbuckling batsman from Ranchi.

There today, gone tomorrow it seems! In an ephemeral world, particularly Indian cricket, long dominated by the Bombay lobby and a talented coterie from the South, that this lad from erstwhile Bihar would etch his name in the highest echelons of world cricket, in the pantheon of..

He cemented his place in the side, an accidental promotion up the order to number 3 in Vizag against arch-rivals #Pakistan. #Sehwag, the Pakistan destroyer, set the stage, Dhoni lit it with his maiden century. A blistering 148, even though it was just one innings, something said

That this was his ‘Desert Storm’, that he was more than just a cricketer, he was a brand. Even though India went from 2-0 up to lose that home series 2-4, the talk was that #India had found its own Adam Gilchrist. A title that #MSDhoni wanted to eschew from, as he was a Gilly Fan

Forget the 183 against #SriLanka in the heat of #Jaipur. There were bigger goals and bigger things in store for #MSD. A failed ODI series in London and the #BCCI’s hubris against T20 cricket meant sending a second string team. Resting the triumvirate of Sachin, Sourav & Rahul..

meant that #Mahi would Don a new hat - the captain’s hat. The #WT20 win, an inaugural win changed the landscape of cricket, but changed Indian cricket and #MSD’s future. #captaincool he was called. The sobriquet for two instance, both times #Pakistan. First during the bowl out..

#MSD displayed visionary insight getting part-timers and spinners to bowl at the wicket, while his counterpart #ShoaibMalik went for pace. The masterstroke proved off, #Dhoni was more than a talented batsman, he was a stoic cricketing genius in the making.

The second one, oh the second one was during the last over of the 2007 final against #Pakistan. He opted for the military medium nobody of a Laver Joginder Sharma, instead of veteran Harbhajjan Singh. A gamble that paid off, changed the landscape of. T20

Cricket in India, as the euphoria of winning the inaugural #T20worldcup meant the birth of the #IPL. Surprise, surprise, #Dhoni became the most expensive player in the franchise that season, became Mr. Chennai Super Kings. A lad from #Ranchi was suddenly adopted by the #Chennai

Faithful as its own. The same way #StevenGerrard was at #Liverpool. He would soon have many an explosive innings and many an accolade, but none more so than etching his name as the winning captain, hitting the final shot of 2011 #ICCCWC. Another master stroke to promote himself

Up the order, to steady the loss of wickets as a dangerous Malinga did early damage and the ever threatening #Murali threatened to undo #India. But by now there was a James Bondesque aura around #CaptainCool. Mission Inpossible was a walk in the park for #MahindraSinghDhoni.

Since #KapilDev’s iconic photograph of lifting the trophy at #Lords, many would have guessed the next to emulate his success would be #Sachin in the 90s as skipper, or #SouravGanguly, or even #RahulDravid perhaps. But a lad from Ranchi, few would have put money on #MSD for this.

I’ve always said being an #Indian cricketer is a complicated cocktail of handling the board, handling the media, handling the fans and handling the pressure. Sip the cocktail too fast or incorrectly and you’re in for a bad hangover. #MSDhoni did it to perfection. Just right!

He didn’t hold on to his place for the sake of holding on to his place like #Ganguly or even #Tendulkar, who had to be fair, past their expiry date. Infact, he prematurely called it a day in Test cricket after the #BoxingDayTest in 2014, leaving a new skipper in charge at the SCG

His last ODI was the #CWC2019 semi-final against #NewZealand. #India with their backs to the wall, suddenly needed an #MSD resurrection. The script was set, but #MSD was just not the #MSD he was, he knew it, and it was accentuated when a second run saw an agile Martin Guptill

Throw down the stumps. “Is that the final” claimed Danny Morrison? In more ways than one, it was! It was #NewZealand in the final and the final time we saw #MSDhoni. Few cricketers are successful, even fewer adored, even fewer change the nature of the game, #Mahi did all of them.

@chidu77 @tunkuv @joybhattacharj @karmanomad @ZeeMohamed_ @DanCricket93 @Mohansinha @VeeruMM @chinmaybhogle @d_extrovert @NishadPaiVaidya @cricketwallah @navneet_mundhra - Few thoughts on MSD this morning!