A partly cloudy sky hung over the ACA-VDCA Stadium on April 5, 2005 as spectators lined up outside for the 100th One-Day International between arch-rivals India and Pakistan.
Little did anyone know that they were about to witness the coming-of-age of a young cricketer who would go on to become the most successful captain of Indian cricket — Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
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Winning the toss, captain Sourav Ganguly elected to bat, and the iconic opening duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag walked in to take strike.
India was cruising at 26/0 in the fourth over when Sachin Tendulkar was run out, leaving spectators crestfallen. Then came the masterstroke from Ganguly — ahead of himself and the ever-consistent Rahul Dravid, the skipper chose to send in a young lad who was in his early twenties and was yet to prove himself on the big stage.
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In walked M.S. Dhoni, who was till then known only as a young wicket-keeper fairly new to the team, with his flowing locks and burly swagger. Fans were surprised to see the change in batting order, but all their doubts were quickly laid to rest as the swashbuckling batsman quickly demolished the Pakistani bowlers, smashing them to all sides of the park.
By the time the first innings ended, the scorecard read 356/9, with Dhoni scoring a fine 148 off 123 balls. His innings, studded with 15 fours and four sixes, made him an overnight poster boy of Indian cricket and won the hearts of the crowd at the ACA-VDCA Stadium.
Fifteen years on, the city still remembers that iconic knock.
“People of Vizag adore Mahi, and he equally loves the city and its people as it is here where his cricketing career really took off,” said former Indian cricketer Y. Venugopal Rao, who played with Dhoni at different levels including ODI, India-A and Challengers Trophy.
“Mahi was a surprise weapon unleashed by Dada (Ganguly) in that match on April 5. Apart from his superb batting, his exceptional wicket-keeping skills also came as a surprise. Later on, his captaincy and team-building would surprise the world, and in the end, his retirement too came as a surprise. His way of announcing his retirement was also in keeping with his character — quiet and simple,” Venugopal Rao told The Hindu .
Recollecting his association with Dhoni, he said, “The day before his blitzkrieg in Vizag, he called me asking if I could join him for dinner. I was in Hyderabad, but flew back to Vizag to meet him. At dinner, he was tense as Sourav had already sounded him that he would go in to bat at Number 3. Somehow, he felt that it was his last chance to prove himself as he had failed with the bat in a few outings earlier. I assured him that he would excel, and he proved me right. That night, I sent a message congratulating him and advising him to never look back.”
“He transformed from a great cricketer into a great captain, and more importantly, into a great human being. He set an example that even small-town cricketers can excel,” Venugopal Rao said.
According to former Rector of Andhra University and cricket commentator A. Prasanna Kumar, Dhoni was an unforgettable era of Indian cricket. “In Indian cricket, we had three eras – the Gavaskar era, Kapil Dev era and Dhoni era. If Gavaskar taught us how to play the new ball, Kapil taught us how to move the new ball while Dhoni taught us how to build a team and win matches and championships,” he said.