Decoding MSD, Man Of Myth

The legend of Dhoni has been ever evolving. Will it finally come to a full stop now?

- Partha.Bhaduri

New Delhi: MS Dhoni’s public life is like those one-way window films in the AC compartments of Indian trains. From the inside, Dhoni, a former railway ticket collector, can see us just fine. From the outside, we rarely, if ever, get a glimpse of the man. This is the bargain which has sustained his enduring myth. For who can claim to have actually known MS Dhoni?

Certainly not the fanatical social-media cult of Dhoni. Certainly not his fellow cricketers or ‘old friends’, many of whom will attest to the former India captain’s cold professionalism or icy demeanour. These are platitudes. Few, if any, will know exactly what drove him to the lofty heights of professional sport.

The global media contributed to the myth, only to discover Dhoni had mastered the art of keeping scrutiny at arm’s length. The white superstar cricketers, meanwhile, were always overawed and “quite aghast,” as renowned social scientist Shiv Visvanathan puts it, at the range and scope of Dhoni’s super celebrity.

At times it appeared not even his own wife, Sakshi, had her pulse on the moment. In late May, when #dhoniretires began to trend out of the blue, she took to social media to term Dhoni’s critics “mentally unstable”. She quickly deleted the tweet.