It’s the time of the year when MS Dhoni trends again, and emotions veil expectations. Amidst all this, the bottom line continues getting blurry, writes Sarah Waris.
While describing the fanatical obsession of MS Dhoni in his adopted home-ground Chennai, Abhishek Mukherjee, a colleague of mine, wrote: “The man has outgrown the cause of the team. What greater proof of stardom can there be?” Having been privileged to visit multiple stadiums around the country in the last few years, I can attest to his views. A sea, scratch that, an ocean of yellow, made up of fans from every age group, gender and town, shedding their loyalties towards their IPL teams as they come together for one cause: To give their beloved player a farewell to remember.
It was surely going to be his last IPL cycle. Nearing 40 after being retained for INR 12 crore in 2022, the next three years became a frenzy. The only India captain to win three ICC titles, his humble beginnings and consequent rise to fame were instead the instant connect for the legions. The long-haired aggressor, the bald-headed World Cup winner, the thick-maned skipper - as Dhoni’s hairstyles changed, what remained constant was the adoration he garnered; his swiftness and astuteness being paralleled by none.
“Guess who’s back, back again..”
Eminem would not have pictured his famous song ‘Without Me’ to be pictured on an Indian athlete, but cut to 2025, and it’s one for Dhoni. After lapping up the fervour bestowed on him across the country in 2024, the last season before the mega-auction, a plot twist, even beyond Ekta Kapoor in her TV shows, saw a rule change that smoothed the path for him to continue. As the BCCI introduced the uncapped player rule, allowing him to be retained for INR 4 crore, CSK became Dhoni and Dhoni became CSK once again.
But at what cost?
As Chennai lost their first game at home to RCB, their fiercest rivals, after 17 years, a video of an erupting crowd after Dhoni hit a last-ball four picked up pace. The third-largest defeat for the team in the league (even against what captain Ruturaj Gaikwad felt) had in its closing moments, an animated ground DJ cheering the wicketkeeper-batter on, with the obliging fans increasing the tempo from the stands. Having burst onto the scene with his heroics at No.3, Dhoni was now batting at No.9, scoring an unbeaten 16-ball 30 that had within, layers of complexities and confusions.
Walking out after R Ashwin to a roaring reception, with the required run rate catapulting upwards, Dhoni waited until the last two overs to get going. Going by the decibel levels, it was all that the audience needed, the shots seeping them in history and nostalgia, the yellow flags and the whistles suggesting a celebration instead.
A reception not provided to all, Dhoni has earned every applause through years of toil, but at what point does devotion blur into delusion? The modern cricketing landscape in India, stirred by social media frenzy, means the scales have tilted drastically towards individuals rather than teams. Devoted fan clubs now latch on to any opinion against any player - oh well, from personal experience, on any public figure, leading to virality and harassment, transcending them into cult icons that were once unimaginable.
CSK have maximised this craze with branding and narratives built around one player. A packed Chepauk game-after-game in neon yellow with ‘7 Dhoni’ on their backs in bright blue is a spectacle, but is it sidelining team objectives? Is the franchise that thrived on legacy and consistency now teetering between emotional investment and tactical prudence, and are they really prioritising what wins a game?
The issue isn’t just Dhoni, but the unchecked hero-worshipping that is sidelining future planning and objectives. Yes, the IPL is a private league with owners who can indulge in their own whims, but it is still a professional one where several youngsters strive to excel, give their all and try to carve out careers that could define their future. Yet, when the spectacle of a former India player hitting a few boundaries evokes more passion than the end result and when a legend in the twilight of his career is being overshadowed by the rise of new talent, the very ethos of a team sport is being compromised.
This is where the viewers need to do better, embracing the collective instead of the individual and realising a single player is only a part of a larger cosmos. Cricket, at its soul, will always be a sport built on partnerships and countless contributions, and while some names will have their moments in the sun and script for themselves bigger stories, nothing should trump the success of the crest on the chest.
March 28, 2025 was a day Dhoni trended again but let it be the last when unchecked emotions superseded team ambition.
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