From Angels to Demons …

Today MS Dhoni finally joins a very elite and prestigious club which has been graced by the former greats of the Indian cricket including Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Azhar, M K Pataudi and I guess almost all Indian Cricket Captains must be in that league. India's Most Hated . An extremely natural reaction of the Indian cricket fan who worships his/her cricketing heros and makes them demigods only to tear them down after their dreams are shattered.

Truly being an cricketing idol in the Indian Subcontinent has always been a double edged sword, no one better than Wasim Akram knows this who had stones pelted at his house, and the Pakistanis had to change the city where they were supposed to land at in order to avoid angry mobs. Remember 1996 World Cup, where the crowds became unruly and the defining image of a crying Vinod Kambli leaving the stadium showed the ugly side of Indian cricket fan.

Dhoni Today 09

So Dhoni went from the being Ranchi's poster boy to having his effigy burnt in his own hometown. Life does come a complete circle. The Captain Cool is now a boy scout and a petty squabbler with Virendra Sehwag and off course the Indian media. His every decision has been analyzed and postmortems conducted which labels him as an incompetent leader.

Dhoni Yesterday 07

A flash back, Its the 2007 T20 World Cup Final the dream match India vs Pakistan, Dhoni gave the ball to Joginder Sharma much to the horror of the Indian fans, and Misba hu Haq who till then had played a splendid innings played an extremely unnecessary reverse sweep which was held by Sreesanth to give India its second moment of World Cup glory and a hero in Indian Cricket was born. The boy from Ranchi, Jharkhand, and it heralded the birth of the new Indian Icon who would eclipse all the existing Indian stars.

What if ?

But just imagine instead Misba spanking it down the ground for a boundary, Dhoni's legend would have died a premature death and Joginder Sharma would have become a national villain like poor Ravinder Jadeja today.

Lessons

There lies the fine line between victory and defeat, glory and failure, fame and obscurity. That is indeed the beauty of sport, its unpredictability and the thrill it brings. Success and failure in life are always separated usually by a small margin but the repercussions always been more drastic. But there is a good news in this, life gives you a second chance, third and a fourth chance in fact, if you are ready to learn your lesson. The problem is we feel so gutted that we ignore the second chances to get back on track and some times meander in mediocrity without discovering our true potential.

Do we not back our friends, children or a close one when they fail, is that not our ideal role. So it is our time to be mature and stand by our team. Sure mistakes were done and the corrective steps must be taken but our heros do not deserve this kind of lynching. We must be more patient, less eager to put some one on a pedestal and later avoid baying for blood at the first sign of failure.

So where does MS Dhoni go from here, well after an introspection, he will reflect on 07 and 09 World Cup campaigns and he will probably realize that This too shall pass ...

I guess the Indian fans should realize this as well :)