Open letter to MS Dhoni: Comeback Champ, they still need you
“How can you be sure you are not the best bet for the T20 world cup without giving it a shot? No dear Dhoni, you absolutely don’t have any right to deny your services to this country. If they say you can’t play, prove them wrong! You owe this to us"
We have seen your humility. We have witnessed your dedication for the team. You have exemplified sacrifice time and again. Your ‘everything else can wait’ when Ziva was born still reverberates in our ears. Memories of your sudden farewell from test cricket still pull up a frown on our faces. You have always placed country before everything else.
However, we fans have grown slightly wiser watching you captain all these years. We understand the ‘team cause’ that’s keep you away from the game. There might be pressure on you. Certain people in power may not want to see you play again. But oh dear captain, think once about us. We are not just your fans. We are India. And knowing the man you are you just can’t ignore your country’s call. And your country is screaming –come back champ, they still need you!
Your absence from the game has made cricket dull for millions. But we understand it’s just not the excuse that can bring you back. You have believed in logic all your life. You have finished games with thorough calculations. And probably now, you are putting the numbers together again. If our gut feeling is strong, we believe you are struggling to figure out the best possible move. This narration of giving youngsters chance has caught up with you too. But hey champ, every game is a national duty. And it shouldn’t be taken as an experiment. There are a billion heartbeats attached to every match. Nobody in the corridors of power has the right to deny us the joy of a win. And you don’t win games with experimentation.
The only criteria that should ever be considered while putting up an 11 is who are the best guys? Don’t you think captain you are compromising national duty by denying this team the best wicketkeeper-batsman in the country? How can you know for sure the thought process behind your absence from cricket is justified? How can you be sure you are not the best bet for the T20 world cup without giving it a shot? No dear Dhoni, you absolutely don’t have any right to deny your services to this country. If they say you can’t play, prove them wrong! You owe this to us.
Perhaps you haven’t followed cricket closely off late or maybe you have. It’s just impossible to predict you, one of those things we have grown used to in the ‘Mahillenium’. Just in the case you haven’t noticed, allow us to politely break this to you –not one guy has been able to cement his place in the role you used to perform effortlessly. In India’s match against Bangladesh, every minute your absence was felt. In those tumbling of wickets, in those faulty DRS calls and in the heart-breaking loss, you were missed Mahi. At one moment the crowd just went ‘Dhoni.. Dhoni..’.
Get back to playing sir. Prove it to us that you don’t have it anymore. This letter would probably never reach you but we fans are not as wise as you are captain. And if it does, you would probably laugh at us for doubting your judgment. But you can’t blame us champ. We have been waiting patiently series after series. We want our match winner back now. Come back already.
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