“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you”. “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same”. These are two excerpts from the poem “IF” by Rudyard Kipling very appropriately define the character of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “Be around people that make you want to be a better person, who make you feel good, make you laugh, and remind you what’s important in life”. “Your strength doesn’t come from winning. It comes from struggles and hardship. Everything that you go through prepares you for the next level”. These lines by Germany Kent very appropriately define the character of Suresh Raina.
The two legends of Indian cricketing history retired on 15th August, 2020 on the eve of Independence Day. Why did they choose to retire on this auspicious day? Suresh Raina revealed that his jersey number is 3 and MS Dhoni’s jersey number is 7, 7 and 3 together make 73 and on 15th August, 2020, India successfully completed 73 years of its independence, so there couldn’t be a better day.
MS Dhoni, popularly known as ‘Captain Cool’ is known for several things especially his helicopter shot and as the best finisher. We might always have conflicting opinions when we ask ourselves who the best batsman or bowler is, but today, when we ask who do you think is the best captain and wicket-keeper is, it’s all MS Dhoni. He has made our choice very easy. He led India to the first position in test cricket rankings for the first time in 2009. Most number of stumpings, wicket-keeper dismissals, most successful Indian captain to win 27 tests and many more. He has not left a shred of a doubt about being the best in business. From lifting the World Cup to lifting the Champions Trophy to winning the Indian Premier League several times, he has been the epitome of success. A record which will nowhere be mentioned but I believe is one of the greatest achievements is that in his entire cricketing career MS Dhoni has been run out only twice.
Source: Swarajya
As stated by Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina is one of the best young talents of India who entered the profession in the middle of the 2000s. Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid have both called Suresh Raina as one of the best players of the white ball game. Suresh Raina has been both, a World Cup winner as well as the Champions Trophy winner. He is one of the most phenomenal players of the Indian Premier League. Not everyone receives appreciation from the best fielder, Jonty Rhodes, but Suresh Raina did when Jonty called him his little brother. One of the biggest achievements of Suresh Raina, I believe is setting of fielding standards. He is known to be one of the best fielders in the world. He is known for his acrobatic fielding skills and ability to cheer his teammates throughout the innings.
Source: ICC Cricket
They have played 73 innings together and not just in the Blue jersey, but also the yellow jersey. They have won the World Cup, Champions Trophy and the Indian Premiere League together. They have made 3585 runs together with an average of 56.9. Their partnerships are said to be one of the best and it’s a thrill watching these stars bat together. Another common point of their career is that both come at middle order to bat and not early, even though it has been suggested time and again that if they come up the order, they’ll score most runs. But like mentioned before, they make the people around them better.
Source: Scroll
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the most polarising figure in Indian Cricket History. As a young kid watching Mahi bat, the instant reaction was ‘Kya Marta Hai Yaar’. In a country like India, even making it into the playing XI is an achievement in itself. Mahi went on to play for 16 years without being dropped and captained the country for 9 long years, which meant he had some really tough decisions to make which surely wouldn’t have pleased everyone. Talking about Suresh Raina’s achievements, what he achieved goes way beyond the numbers he produced. He is one of the rare individuals who put personal ambitions aside and cared for the greater good. As said by MS Dhoni, a good batsman might not always score runs, a good bowler might not always take wickets, but a good fielder will always save runs for the team, Suresh Raina was that fielder.
A lot has been written and said about them but they never failed to maintain dignity, which certainly is not an easy thing to do. The best thing about Mahi is the tremendous and unfathomable belief he had in his abilities even though a lot of people questioned his unorthodox technique. No one can ever forget Suresh Raina’s 34 from 28 balls in the quarter finals against Australia which led India to the Semi-finals and then an unbeaten 36, batting with tailenders to take the score up to 260 against Pakistan in the semi-finals.
One could sense the retirement was coming when MS Dhoni left the Australia series midway after playing his last international match in India in Ranchi with the camouflaged army caps, when he kept changing his bats to thank his sponsors.
Written by – Abhishek Agarwal
Sources: Times of India, The Week
