An open letter to MS Dhoni - It's time to talk captain

There’s no ducking from this, MS Dhoni

Dear Dhoni,

A lot has been said and done over what’s rotting inside cricket’s wealthiest and largest body. The SC has finally broken its silence and has made its discontent with the BCCI clear and loud. Everyone’s opening up about the skeletons inside BCCI’s closet, including ex-cricketers and everyone else who adores the sport.

It’s time you start commenting on it, maybe not right away, but definitely after you’ve put the burden of leading the national side to a victory in the ongoing T20 WC, because it’s time you say something about what’s been happening around you.

Your one liners and the pearls of wisdom that we have got used to hearing from you in the pre and post-match press conferences might do you a world of good when you finally decide to open up about everything that has happened since last summer, when a player you’ve shared the dressing room with and a few other domestic players reaped what they sowed.

I still know what you did last summer – You kept mum and went ahead playing the game that you love the most, away from all the media glare that suddenly caught the nation by storm. Even though I was never a fan, I respected you for staying away from all of it until all those allegations were proved to be true. But what worried me the most was your continued state of silence even after proofs came in and even after your bosses were under the spotlight.

As a fan, who holds my country’s players in the highest regard and with all due respect, I want to say that you went horribly wrong even after the apex courts in the country condemned the individuals that were associated with your team. You must know Mr. Gurunath Meiyappan more than I do, and you must have known him enough to safely assume that he was not “just a cricket enthusiast”, rather an executive associated with the team you play for. Why the silence MS? The nation wants to know.

A lot has happened since the last summer. AAP have won, they have lost; BJP did a lot of TV ads, so did the Congress, but the love for cricket has stayed on even after your disastrous tours abroad. The SC feels now that the legendary Sunil Gavaskar should head the BCCI for the IPL this summer, and that to me and a billion of others is a sigh of relief.

The fans in the country need you more than ever to perform at the ongoing WC, but let’s do some talking after that Mr. MS. Let’s be honest about what’s not going right. It’s time somebody talked about it. I had a feeling that one of the 4 legends might come out in public with their views, but sadly that never happened.

If you stay silent to concentrate on the game, fine by me, but if you are keeping your mouth shut just because you are scared that you might never be the VP of a cement company or be on the wrong side of somebody, then that’s a cancer for this nation which can never be treated.

You have always been vocal about a lot of things in the sport, why not now? This is the best time to open your heart out. The big boss of the Board is stepping away, the SC nearly scrapped your team out of IPL 7, and you are being ripped off in almost every medium that connects with people, just like the one I am writing in.

So collect your thoughts, make a seriously thought about speech that you should ideally give before the start of this year’s IPL, just so that you don’t lose people who have stood by you over the years.

The team in a blue jersey needs you, just like the bright yellow one. It’s not just a matter of choice, it’s a decision that has to be made, to clear the air around one of the world’s most watched event that every fan in the country loves watching to cool their heels during the scorching Indian summer.

I may never be a fan of yours, but I will try really hard to change my mind if you decide to break your silence.