Six and Out - Some Serious Cricket

Why Dhoni is Cool.

by Dinsa Sachan on September 27th, 2007

This post is slightly inspired by Uncle J. Rod’s post on Dhoni. I thought it was time for my take, too.

I had kind of always admired him, not in the girly way, but for his swashbuckling batting knocks and also, er, um, his locks.

Dhoni’s Cricketing Career’s Top Three Highlights:

1. He first sprang to worldwide notice after a 183 not-out off 145 balls against Sri Lanka at Jaipur during their 2004-05 tour of India. This happened to be the highest total by a wicket-keeper. I hope it still is. Stats change everyday, ya know.

2. He equaled Adam Gilchrist’s (who happens to be his inspiration) record for highest number of dismissals in an ODI innings in September 2007 against England at the Natwest Trophy. He caught five players behind the wicket and stumped one.

3. He lead the Indian team to championship victory at the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup in Sept 2007.

I think he’s cool because…

1. After John Abraham, he’s got the sexiest-looking locks in the country. What’s more– he keeps experimenting with his hairstyle just so that I won’t get bored. Ha.

2. On a more serious note, his prowess with getting everyone to work together as a team is the key to his leadership skills. As someone who held leadership positions at school, I can say if someone has succeeded in getting that done in his very first stint as a skipper, he’s probably gifted with what Justin Menkes would call executive intelligence.

3. Like some of the world cup captains, he did not seem to want to devour all the credit alone, and neither did he pine to be center staged every time the Indian cricket team was shot along with the world cup trophy. These are subtle bits most people don’t notice, but believe me, these hint toward a guy’s attitude a lot.

4. He doesn’t bask in his middle-class status. Why should he? He’s not middle-class anymore, but I see how some rags-to-riches folks hang on about the hardships they faced. Dhoni has had many, too, but he doesn’t preach.

5. He isn’t prone to distractions. He has his endorsement deals and gets handsome gifts from the state government on and off, but he kind of never lets it all get over his head. And of course, he’s unhooked as of yet, so I presume that’s a help, too.

In short: He’s an asset to the game of cricket.

Here’s a quick look at this record-breaking knock against Sri Lanka:

What do you think of him?
Photo Credits: BBC, CricketNow

Video Credit: YouTube

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POSTED IN: Beyond Cricket, Cricket, Heroes of the Week, MeThinks, Twenty20 Cricket, Twenty20 World Cup