Sunil Gavaskar getting his shirt autographed by Mahandra Singh Dhoni at Chepauk after a recent IPL match isn’t just an addition to the scrapbook: it’s an image that will stick in the minds of people for a long time. For sport, it was a moment of eternity. Those who saw it happening would tell a thousand tales on rainy days. Gavaskar, personalising the context, juxtaposed Dhoni’s lifetime glory story with Kapil Dev on the Lord’s balcony holding aloft the 1983 World Cup, allowing us a glimpse of how an idolised superstar could have his own fanboy moment too.
No one, truth to tell, grows old; they only seem to be so. Life finds a new dimension when you make a niche in your mind for the newer icon. And when one icon is more than just nice to another, even sport appears noble. Pele speaks well of Kylian Mbappe or a chorus plays across the gallery of greats in appreciation of Roger Federer or Don Bradman finding vignettes of himself in Sachin Tendulkar is essentially human civilisation telling itself that life is worth living. Somewhere, someday, Dhoni too could be seen clapping as cheers break forth for someone else.
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That Dhoni has himself seen a fresh lease of life added to the legend he is can hardly be denied. He knows the harsher side of things: praise from peers or predecessors hinges on how humble you have struck someone. Did he drop his head as I stepped out of the loo? Was he prompt enough in smiling at my little one at last evening’s banquet? Will he put in a good word with Mr Important for my daughter’s job? Such profound questions cast a long shadow on all of us. Bengal ignored Dhoni for some time ~ when he qualified for the Ranji Trophy living as he did in Kharagpur then, but it was a pair of cricket boardappointed talent scouts in the state who recommended him and that was that. He was never really required to look back, rising to the top, winning two World Cups and saying it with a six the second time.
That it was in Mumbai was something special: the small-town cricketer had already arrived in the Indian game but Dhoni’s ascent and demonstrated success suggested a new era, announced in the dream city which had nurtured and dominated the game for long. Today, Mumbai likes him as much, perhaps, as Ranchi. Chennai, of course, dotes on him. Central Kolkata’s streets saw Dhoni fans’ procession and Eden Gardens saw yellow-shirted youngsters urging him to carry on yet when Kolkata Knight Riders played against CSK. He alone knows if this is his last season in the IPL but, playing with an injury, he has dominated it like a colossus perfectly aware of the importance of his presence. Let him take a seat in the Indian dug-out now.
