Mahi way

A six just creamed over long-on when there were only four more runs to get, rock steady eyes following the ball, a Rajini’esque twirl of the bat once the ball hit the stands, a trademark grin, the rush to grab a stump and then a huge bear hug.  The celebrations had begun.  The goosebumps had erupted.  The tears would come later – ‘tears of happiness’ as Sachin called them.  The weight of expectation of a billion impatient and unforgiving people had been successfully shouldered.  As the popular songs goes – that’s the way … Mahi way.

It is unbelievable how the man has a Midas touch.  ”I am just lucky that I get great players and that they respond to me – even the seniors who have been playing Test cricket from long before I started playing for India”, he modestly claimed in the post match press-conference when asked about his various successes.  He had said before the world cup that he wanted a team that would (not just could, but would) stand in the way of a runaway truck if required – what was left unsaid was that he himself was willing and able to do the same for his team.  Credit your team when you do well, shoulder the blame when things go wrong – that’s the Mahi way.

The self-professed armchair experts had panned him for everything – his team selections, his shuffling of the batting order in different games, his decisions on the field, his own form as a batsman and even his endorsements.  The same people are probably hailing him now as a sort of cross between Superman and Hanuman.  But he seems like a man equally at ease with criticism as with praise, a man who can take the rough with the smooth with the same zen-monk calm and the same quick grin following a witty quip, a man who can soak up pressure better than any sponge ever invented, a man who makes his decisions and backs them whether they work or not, a man quick to accept his mistakes but at the same time who makes a telling point when he says that “some decisions work, some don’t – and decisions that work are hailed as great strategy”.  Straight from the heart and damn the consequences – that’s the Mahi way.

They say he was responsible for backing – indeed insisting on – Yuvraj’s selection when Yuvi was woefully out of form and touch and looked set to be discarded.  It seems only apt that Yuvi repaid the faith of his captain and produced the performances when required.  Every member of the team has repeatedly said that the team is in a very happy place right now – they enjoy each other’s successes and revel in each other’s achievements – they back each other up in tough times, certain that things will soon turn around, that they can turn things around.  It’s not just hope and faith – it seems like an unshakable self-belief.  The steel in their wrists is now matched by the steel in their spine and the fire in their eyes.  ”Pressure is easier to handle when it is shared,” the captain said after the finals, and he has done more than his share of the sharing – sometimes leading from the front, sometimes fighting a rearguard, yet never ever giving up – that’s the Mahi way.

The journey has not been long, but it has been huge – from a ticket-collector’s job at Kharagpur station via the sports-quota to the highest-paid brand-ambassador with endorsements worth more than 50 crores (and set to grow higher after the final) – from a gawky small-town boy from Ranchi to a well-traveled, sophisticated and articulate spokesperson for the game worldwide – from a long-haired power hitter who batted with any piece of wood he could lay his hands on to a clean-cut, cool and calculated finisher of games for India – from a duck on ODI debut to a world-cup winning man-of-the-match 91 not-out under tremendous pressure a mere six years later.  Just how much huger can it get?  And yet – despite his phenomenal success, despite the fame and adulation, despite the fat payments, despite the big motorcycles and fancy cars, despite the new-found celebrity friends – despite all this and more he seems rooted in reality.  Even as his hands reach for the stars his feet seem firmly planted on the ground, his head squarely on his broad shoulders, his eyes steady, his jaw set firm, and his grin still every bit as genuine – that’s the Mahi way.

I vividly remember hearing Ravi Shartri on commentary all those many years back talking about the new crop of youngsters coming up through the India-A ranks and he especially mentioned a young wicket-keeper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who could also “bat a bit” – and boy, did he bat that bit yesterday!

… but I guess by now we all should know – that’s the way… Mahi way.

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