Indian cricket is rich in the sense it is a sport that has given the country multiple stalwarts who have left their mark on the world stage. Naturally, when India’s one legend talks about another, it becomes a moment to treasure for every cricket fan. One such moment came when former India opener Sunil Gavaskar was describing the impact of the recently-retired MS Dhoni on Indian cricket.
Gavaskar, who was part of the 1983 World Cup winning Indian side that forever changed the dynamics of Indian cricket for good, made an emotional remark after Dhoni’s retirement. Recalling a meeting with Dhoni in the 2011 edition of the IPL, Gavaskar said he had told the former India captain about his wish to ‘say goodbye to this world’ by watching Dhoni’s six that won India the 2011 ODI World Cup.
“A few days later IPL started, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were playing their first match and I was at the ground. I met MSD and said, ‘look in this world if I’ve got a couple of minutes left, I’m gonna ask someone to put that shot on because I’d love to see that shot and say goodbye to this world. Because that would be a fantastic way, I’d go with a smile on my face. That’s exactly what I had said to MSD and he was of course pretty modest about it. He smiled and didn’t say anything,” Gavaskar told India Today.
The former India opener was referring to Dhoni’s six off Nuwan Kulasekara in the 2011 World Cup final against Sri Lanka which ended India’s wait for the title of 28 years. Dhoni was adjudged Player of the Match for his unbeaten 91 in the chase.
On India’s 74th Independence Day, Dhoni announced his decision to retire from international cricket drawing curtains on a career that lasted close to 16 years and brought every possible laurel to the country.
Dhoni retired as one of the most successful captains of world cricket and also as the one of the greatest finishers of the game.
Reacting on the impact Dhoni, the only captain till date to win all three ICC trophies, Gavskar compared him former India all-rounder Kapil Dev.
“Both (Dhoni and Kapil) were very, very similar. Both had similar approaches to the game. They loved playing the game. Both of them loved being in the center of action and they wanted to achieve great things for their teams. In that way, both are very similar,” Gavaskar said.
“Yes, I think he will be very much a contender (for captaining all-time India XI). If you look at captaincy in one-day cricket for India, there would just be two guys who would come in the frame as far being captains, one is MS Dhoni and one is Kapil Dev.
“I think these are the two contenders, because they have won the others might have had very good performances, won bilateral series but when it comes to winning World Cups, I think MS Dhoni has just a little edge over Kapil because he has not just won the 50-over World Cup but also the T20 World Cup. So I think he would be right up there,” Gavaskar said.
