The last few years have been extremely positive and successful for Indian cricket, as the side has achieved tremendous success across all conditions and tournaments. More importantly for India, the emergence of MS Dhoni has been a much needed spark, as the arrival of the brawny Jharkhand lad, brought about an array of fresh energy into India’s ODI outfit.
Dhoni’s journey with the Indian team though, was far from smooth initially. The 2007 ICC World Cup in the Caribbean was Dhoni’s first ever World Cup, and ironically, till date, it is the lowest point of his career. Speaking on the sidelines of his upcoming biopic’s promotions, Dhoni admitted that the entire team was scarred after a dismal run in the tournament.
It must be remembered that India crashed out of the World Cup after the very first round, following defeats to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. While speaking, Dhoni mentioned that the failure he witnessed in early 2007 helped him to utilize his aggression in a more productive way in the future. “When we landed in Delhi, there was a lot of media,” said Dhoni. “At times, people feel that we are not emotional enough about it, but I always felt, as sports persons, you have to be strong enough to go through everything and it has to be within yourself,” Dhoni said. “It is not about coming for a press conference and crying about stuff, or crying in the field about what has happened.”
Captain cool mentioned that the team members felt like “criminals” after reaching home. “At that point of time, when we landed, we had to get out in a police van. I was sitting next to Viru paaji. It was evening or night time,” Dhoni said. “We were travelling at a decent speed – 60 or 70 kms – and that’s quite a bit for India, that too on the narrow roads.”
“And, you know, media cars around us with their cameras and the big lights on top, it felt as if we had committed a big crime, maybe like a murderer or terrorist or something. We were actually chased by them. “After a while, we entered a police station. We went there, we sat for a while and then we left in our cars after 15-20 minutes. That actually had a big impact on me and I channelized the aggression to become a better cricketer and a better human being,” said Dhoni.
Being the champion Dhoni is, he soon went on to lead an inexperienced Indian outfit to glory in the inaugural ICC World T20 in South Africa, just months after the debacle in the Caribbean. Dhoni’s epitome of success though, is surely the triumphant run in the 2011 World Cup, when the men in blue were crowned champions after 28 years.