Two years ago, on December 30, 2014 to be precise, Mahendra Singh Dhoni stumped the cricket world when he announced via BCCI that he was retiring from Test cricket. The surprise announcement came after India drew a Test against Australia in Melbourne.
There was a customary press conference in which Dhoni talked about the match. But he made no reference to his plan to retire from cricket's long format. Shortly after that press meet, we came to know about Dhoni's retirement through a BCCI press release.
We hate you Dhoni, for not allowing us to witness you in a farewell Test match. After all, you were accused of not giving a farewell match to a couple of senior Indian cricketers.
Now, Dhoni has stepped down as India's ODI, T20 captain, a day before the selection of Indian team for the remaining matches of the England series. This was bound to happen, we all knew. But Dhoni's decision came when many of us least expected it.
We hate you Dhoni, for you are unpredictable. That too after captaining India in 199 ODI matches. But somehow, 199 looks prettier than 200 now.
We hate you Dhoni, that you talk to the point and that too, so authentically about the team's performance after every match, let it be victory or defeat. We hate you Dhoni, that you own up for your team's loss with a straight head. A leader should not be highly composed as you are. That's impossible for most of us.
You have won us several trophies, you were the most successful captain India ever saw. But we hate you Dhoni, that you don't come to the front when the team celebrates with the trophy and we struggle to spot you somewhere in the line next to the team officials in those pictures.
We hate you Dhoni, that how quick you are with your running between the wickets and the flashy pace with which you stump batsmen out.
Oh, yes, we hate you for how you handled that question from a foreign journalist with wit, elan and conviction.
We do hate you Dhoni, if your decision to make way for Virat Kohli as captain comes following a thought process that cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle tried to put in words. Bhogle wrote: “Trying to think like #Dhoni. Kohli most likely 2019 World Cup captain, so best that he leads in the Champions Trophy so best he starts now.”
And now, we hate you, as we are finding it hard to realize that we won't see you as India's captain for another match.