Dho-dala: A tale of long hair and steely eyes

Once upon a time, when Cricket was the heartbeat of the country, there existed a gladiator, the king of the game in the country. He fought battles in Blue, white and yellow, and won most of them. But before he became a tall brooding king, he was a prince with long locks without a care in the world. He smashed ball-shaped missiles with helicopter shots and punches.

And this was the Dhoni who came out to bat on the third day after Sachin did not get a hundred (again). At 4 wickets down with 195 on the board, the enemy’s large wall seemed insurmountable. Well, that was a myth the gladiator had come out to dispel. He started calmly (his level of calmness) with a couple of disdainful shots and a mishit, with a lot of singles and he combined well with his lieutenant.

Once the 81^st over started, the mood changed. Both the king and his lieutenant started shooting in earnest, and how they shot! The enemy was on the backfoot, when suddenly Kohli shot himself in the foot. Little did he know, this was the boost that his king needed. On came Harbhajan, while on the other end Dhoni was upsetting Lyon with all kinds of shots. He reached his 100 with a blitzy strike that rocketed to the ropes. And it was just not the spinner Dhoni was taking a liking to. On came the new soldier Henriques and was dismissed almost insultingly, over his head for a six.

While the commentators showered praises, one thing was missing from Dhoni’s demeanour. His smile, so abundant in his long hair days, was absent. In his eyes was a steely determination that was giving an answer to all those who had dared to challenge his authority and fiefdom, and how magnificent he was. A shot in particular that warmed the heart was his cover drive that bisected two men at handshaking distance, disappointment for those who call him crude. Brutal he may be but he was unbeatable, his mis-hits were sixes and even when the bat turned in his hand he did not miss a trick. The shoulders that were carrying Indian hopes, were carrying the ball over the boundary too.

Out went Harbhajan and in came the debutant Kumar. His defence had almost a Dravid-like feel to it. But the afternoon belonged to Dhoni. Again and again he wielded his weapon and men and women, old and young alike got up to applaud the effort of the king. When he crossed the midway point between hundred and double hundred, he acknowledged his people with a lazy flick of the bat. As if tired, he stopped running, but then we realized it was to protect his new partner; not that he needed to, by the look of things. Even though he had spent 4 hours in the energy sapping heat, he still hared for twos.

He did give one chance though to his opposite number, but the venom on the cannonball returning from the bat was apparently too hot to handle in an already sweaty and hot stadium. And while the Aussie pacers huffed and puffed, there was no change in attitude from the man, and he still dispatched Pattinsons’ spell-opener over his head.

The moments of the day came when he was duelling with Nathan Lyon – the poor guy scored a double hundred in the runs’ column. Atleast a hundred seemed to be off Dhoni’s blade. He hit him for 6 sixes and many more fours. And as he reached his 200 he slowed a bit not, and one felt respect for the milestone despite the simple fact of exhaustion. Ofcourse his refusal to take singles was comical at times, but towards the end the retaining of strike to bash the fair skinned opponents was commendable.

Soon the day ended, and in everybody went. The next morning the king was back again, he started with a reverse sweep (of all shots) and again a six over Lyon’s head – at this rate he will lose the slight patch of hair left on his head. But soon the Aussies’ most able fighter Pattinson dismissed him and vindicated his ability, but not before the steely eyed man had reached 224. The coliseum of Chepauk stood as one and applauded one of the finest knocks by a captain, any captain, for any country. It was slightly reminiscent of Gilchrist’s regular assaults, and if Dhoni reproduces even some a fraction of his ability, he will dominate many more matches as he has this one.