The day this book went into print, December 30, 2014, Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket. Panic engulfed the author and those at Rupa Publications. “They had to stop press and add that bit of information,” says author-columnist Biswadeep Ghosh. Having written biographies of Bollywood actors and children’s fiction, this is Ghosh’s first attempt at cricket writing.
As a helpful caveat, on the back cover, the author adds that the book MSD: The Man, The Leader “doesn’t enter the territory of controversies, and is purely inspirational in nature”. That then forces one, even before getting anywhere close to completing the 245-page volume, to slot it along with the numerous other flattering discourses on the other iconic Indian cricketers of our times, those that seem to deal purely with the genius of the men, without even once delving into the relative darkness and demons that probably must exist behind the glittering front of success and mass adulation. Which is rather convenient in placing the publication in the class of literature that every World Cup season sees, and for which there always appears to be a ready, primarily young, audience. This also implies that none of the really contentious tid-bits (Dhoni’s name cropping up in the Mudgal Committee report on IPL spot-fixing, the issue of conflict of interest over his being part of India Cements, his allegedly iffy relationship with senior players) find a place here. “I have criticised and spoken about his overseas failures. I have touched upon controversies but not indulged in them as I needed to have concrete evidence,” says Ghosh, adding, “Every narrative has a focus. The focus here is purely the story of inspiration. Born and educated in Patna, I know that the standard of cricket is abysmal there. When you play for a side like Mumbai or Delhi, you are visible. But, a team from Bihar, for which Dhoni largely played, is less visible. Emerging from there and playing for the country and leading India, is noteworthy.”
Post his debut ODI in 2004 and Test in 2005, the long-maned Dhoni punched his way into national consciousness with a series of brutal ODI knocks in 2006. If the book doesn’t trace the origins of Dhoni’s well-documented confidence, it, at least, reveals the first public exhibition of this confidence. A teenage Dhoni is badgering his school coach into allowing him to bat way ahead of his usual place and open the innings. The coach isn’t pleased, but MSD does not budge, and the outcome – just like several India-favourable results years later – is stupendous: 213 not out in 150 balls.
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The coach, Keshab Ranjan Banerjee, still doesn’t know what impelled Dhoni, a quiet and obedient pupil, to persist with his opening demand. ‘Maybe, he knew that he was destined to get a huge score or perhaps he simply wanted to bat early and spend more time at the crease.’
The Ranchi-based cricketer’s career arced upwards from here and forms the rest of the book; a story that has perhaps been told, elsewhere, several times before — his rise through domestic cricket into India’s junior ranks; his persistence with an unconventional though hugely successful ‘technique’; his exploits when he played for India ‘A’ in Nairobi, his eventual ascension to becoming, first, India’s principal custodian behind the wicket, and the two ODI knocks against Pakistan and Sri Lanka (148 and 183*) that endeared him to the country’s cricket-mad masses. India’s twin triumphs, at the World T20 in 2007 and the fairytale ICC World Cup win at home in 2011, receive a fair share of print space, as does the team’s rise and subsequent fall from the No.1 ranking in Tests, and the part that the Indian Premier League and Chennai Super Kings play in elevating MSD into a celebrity league of his own.
It’s interesting that the author wrote the book without speaking to his subject. “Often biographies are dictated by celebrities. I believe in conscious detachment,” he says.
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There are some pages reserved too for the tittle-tattle that invariably surrounds the life of a celebrity, such as his alleged liaisons with an assortment of Bollywood beauties, but these only serve to whet one’s appetite, leaving one craving for some more ‘hot stuff’ on India’s coolest captain, who started off as a ticket collector at the world’s longest platform — Kharagpur Railway Station. “And maybe that’s why his earthy appeal connects with cricketers and people in smaller towns giving them hope that they too can make it big.”