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| Edited By: Deepak Lokhande |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Sep 30, 2017, 04:42 AM IST
A loop is playing in the mind since last night’s sensational 1-run win over Bangladesh in the ICC World T20 International, played at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium. The entire five-second GIF refuses to go.
Hardik Pandya bowls slightly wide off Shuvagat Hom. He slashes and misses. Mahendra Singh Dhoni collects it clean behind the wickets. He has one glove off already to effect a throw-in. Instead, he decides to make a dash. Goes for it. With pads on. Will he make it? He throws down the stumps, but the adrenalin rush is so much that one cannot decide if Dhoni has indeed effected a run out. From the looks of it, it seems a very close call.
The decision is referred to third umpire. He takes only 30 more seconds as it is abundantly clear. The batsman is at least nine inches away from the crease. India has incredibly won the match by one run. Last ball. Dhoni has defeated the defeat. Single handedly.
Winning moment
Last ball of the match
Dhoni ........ u r damn 7ucking awesome #ind pic.twitter.com/s2QFTvSGH2 — Sriram Varma (@sriramForU) March 23, 2016
Nuff has been said about Dhoni the batsman, his finishing capabilities, his destructive helicopter shot and how he paces his innings. More than enough has been said about his cool and calm demeanour on field. He is unflappable. Nothing ruffles his mind.
What about Dhoni, the ‘keeper?
Wednesday’s match had those two glorious moments that highlighted his wicketkeeping abilities. Sabbir’s stumping in a flash and Mustafizur Rahman’s run out with a sprint that would shame Usain Bolt.
Let’s look at Sabbir’s stumping first.
Sabbir is taking the match away with his lusty hitting. He has raced to 26 off just 13 deliveries. At some point, Dhoni has a quick word with Suresh Raina, his Chennai Super Kings team mate. Raina bowls wide off the leg. Sabbir loses the balance. His front foot is out of the crease, but the hind foot is inside. As he fails to connect, Sabbir seems to fall over and adjusts quickly. Somewhere in those few milliseconds, Sabbir’s hind foot is about four millimetres above the ground. That is enough for Dhoni to take the bells off.
A great keeper like Syed Kirmani, who kept wickets against the greatest like Bishen Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Venkatesh Raghavan and B Chandrashekhar, will tell you this is beyond belief.
Raina has bowled wide off the leg stump. Which means Dhoni doesn’t have a clear view thanks to the batsman who obstructs his vision. The collect is on his wrong side. The batsman is inside the crease. And instead of hurrying the stumping after seeing the batsman is fauxed, Dhoni waits. Waits for that tiny, tiny, really tiny moment for Sabbir to lift that foot and at that very moment, the bells are off.
No matter how many times you look at it, you can’t but marvel at this stumping.
Now let’s come to that mind-boggling run-out of last ball.
First, think of the odds stacked against Dhoni.
1. Age: Dhoni is 34 years old. The runner from the other side is Mustafizur Rahman. He is only 20.
2. Pressure: This is the last ball of a tense match. If India loses this, India is virtually out of the tournament. A tournament, that caught India’s imagination after that famous win in 2007. This could be Dhoni’s last T20 world cup. One billion hearts are pumping faster than the rest of the world at this moment.
3. Hampered by the headstart the runner has over him: Mustafizur Rahman can start running the moment Pandya has bowled the delivery. He has that one-two second edge before the ball is lodged in Dhoni’s gloves. He has a bat in his hands. He can extend it to reach faster. He doesn’t have to aim for a narrow three stumps target. All he needs to do is run for his life and go a couple of milimeters past the line. Dhoni has his pads on, which hampers running. So he must throw. Ball off hands will reach stumps faster than a keeper running with ball in his hands. The only problem? There are huge chances he will miss it.
Dhoni, the greatest gambler, decides to take the matter in his hands, literally and goes for the jugular. He runs, and runs, and runs. Like India’s life is depending on his run. The only screen run I remember with so much passion is Amitabh Bachchan’s run to save trapped miners in Kala Paththar. Dhoni throws the stumps down and waits for the third umpire’s decision. He tells his team mates he is confident he has his man. The third umpire confirms. Somehow, Dhoni has beat the 14-year younger runner by almost nine inches.
This is a sight to behold. The world around me has erupted. People are hugging random people. In offices (yes, some people were working), at homes, at restaurants. India has been saved.
By the way, a year ago I wrote an article criticising this very man, for not being able to finish the matches the way he used to do.
Sometimes, I eat crows.
