An open letter to MS Dhoni - My hero, my inspiration, my support system

MSD finishes off in style

Dear Mahendra Singh Dhoni,

Every single time I see you taking the field, I experience a shiver down my spine. The passion hits the peak. The eyes light up. The dream to achieve something expands binomially. Such is your aura that you have created for me.

Whenever I feel bogged down, I sit in a dark room and visualize you hitting those towering hits, the mammoth sixes. I visualize you setting up that leg slip. I visualize you finishing off the Indian innings in the World Cup final. I visualize you handing over the ball to Joginder Sharma. I visualize you lifting the most coveted trophies in World Cricket that exist.

It doesn’t heal my pain or my frustration. But it does infuse a spark. The spark which tells me to fight till the end. The energy that tells me not to give up. The signal which tells me how to ignore the lunatics. MSD you are a dream for me.

I am living my life your way. It is not easy for somebody to transform from a dapper boy with long locks to someone with grayed beard. The way you have taken or to be more precise absorbed every single bit of weight that has come your way has left an impression on millions of your fans across the globe.

That weight encompasses the hopes, the dreams of billions of Indians. You have never let them down.

You have taught us that no situation, however, bad can be fought through and defeated. MSD there are some who are born with a silver spoon. MSD you are the one who has fought through all odds. I have failed to nail down what goes through your head when you bat.

Does the cranium metal have a cooling pad? People give up the moment things seem to go out of their way. You are different. You recollect all the dots and join them in situations which could never have been healed by a normal human being.

I relate to you whenever I face traumatic times. I relate to you whenever I feel beaten personally or professionally. I realize that I breathe the same oxygen as you. This feeling makes me relieved off the amplified bad times.

It creates an urge, the urge which asks me to stand up and deliver. I might not kill it every time. But yes, I do conquer the negativity most of the times.

MSD thank you for being an inspiration. I thank you from the core of my heart for letting me tune the frequencies back to a beautiful curve. If a guy from a small town can win everything for his country, then anything can be achieved.

You have made it look so simple. People might not or will not scale the success you have seen. But they will at least make repeated attempts to nail their dream down. This is what you have taught us over the years.

The brute force with which you hit those beautiful boundaries teaches us to be calm and answer back our critics with actions rather than words. You have showed us how to smile even in defeats. Life is a cricket match.

There are bouncers hurled to us, there are these doosras which keeps pushing us on the back foot. But again, there are those helicopter shots which lend solace to us. There are these moments which tell us to rotate the strike in times of trouble. There are these moments which tell us to attack right from the start. MSD you have taught me how to play this game your way.

Thank you for everything.

Yours Sincerely,

A fan till the last breath