Some of Dhoni’s answers were strange.
“Chawla needs to be given confidence.”
“Ashwin is mentally tough.”
“Harbhajan is a big match player.”
“I cannot control Sreesanth.”
You couldn’t get through to Dhoni. He must have smiled inwardly and thought, “Fools. What do they know?” He carried on, living in the bubble that couldn’t be pricked. Like he had a master plan only he understood. Like everything would fall into place at the right moment. In the end, it did.
But as Dhoni revealed after the final, the pressure on him was immense. It was best displayed in the dying moments of India’s chase when he nearly ran himself out. For the first time, horror occupied his creaseless visage. Not tension. Not anger. But pure horror. Dhoni screamed at Yuvraj Singh for the near mishap and hit his pad with his bat in disgust. But this incident didn’t deter him.
Good Old Grit
When Dhoni promoted himself over Yuvraj and Suresh Raina, it wasn’t just the World Cup at stake. Dhoni had been off-colour. But he wanted to shield the two left-handers from Sri Lankan off-spin. Had his brave intentions not yielded runs, questions about Dhoni’s place in the side would have been asked. It was that risky.
Coming out to bat in that situation must be the gutsiest thing a captain has done in a World Cup final since a half-fit, out-of-form Imran Khan went in at three in 1992. Imran made 72 to steer the innings to respectability, then returned to take the final English wicket to seal the win.
As individuals who look within for answers often do, Dhoni said he had a point to prove only to himself.
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