“I keep telling myself, why didn’t I dive. Those two inches I keep telling myself “

MS Dhoni still regrets his dismissal in the semi final of World Cup 2019.

“Second run oadaama, Single’oda niruthirkalaam.”

“Dhoni rendaavadhu run oadum podhu dive adichurukalaam.”

“Dhoni konjam munnadi ye adichu aada aaramichurukalaam.”

2019 semifinal pathi ippovum nereya ‘what if’ scenarios yosichu paaka thonum. Dhoni career eh full of ‘what if’ moments nu 2016 la oru write up naama laam padichuruppom. Already Dhoni ah pathi maaney, theaney nu podhumaana alavuku pesitathaala, “So what if Dhoni hadn’t run himself out?”

There are different scenarios from which the 25 to win from 10 could have been handled and since it’s a proper CSK kind of a finish irundhrundhaa eppdi irundhurukum’nu oru chinna karpanai.

48.3, Ferguson to Dhoni, 1 run. Ferguson goes wide of the crease and bangs a bouncer on middle, tucks him up for room. Dhoni can only flap it away behind square. Bhuvi wanted a second but Dhoni trusts the partner who let him score his only test double century in his home ground. (Sorry Jharkhand) Dhoni doesn’t raise his bat for his 50. Indha innings panna pace ku Thala maybe ippo dhaan 40 vandhurukkom nu nenachuruka vaaipirukku.

48.4, Ferguson to Bhuvi, 1 run. Full toss outside off from Ferguson and Bhuvi jabbs it to the covers for a quick single. 23 to win from 8.

48.5, Ferguson to Dhoni, SIX runs. Back of a length on middle, thrashed over deep midwicket for a huge maximum. Dressing room scenes where a pumped up Jaddu and Ro cheering for their ex-captain who played such a crucial part in shaping up their careers. Replay va Polakattum para para song la varra ‘Adikira adiyil ada thavilu kizhinju thongattum’ edit ku ethana vaati venaa use panalaam type. 17 to win from 7.

48.6, Ferguson to Dhoni, 1 run. 121ks slower dipper from Lockie Ferguson. Dhoni pushes it to long-on for an easy single which will allow him to keep strike for all the important final over.

Ah, the famous Dhoni territory. His famous interview to Mark Nicholas in 2014 where he said “… I am never in a hurry. My aim is to leave it till the bowler and me are on level ground, i.e to the point at which he is under as much pressure as me. Then we can see who can handle it.”

Neesham to bowl the final over, can he handle it?

16 to win from 6.

49.1, Neesham to Dhoni, FOUR runs. Full and floated down the leg side, tickled away fine of short fine leg. Poor ball first-up. In these final overs, you just wonder how the calculator mind of his works.

49.2, Neesham to Dhoni, no run. Back of a length and moves away, slower legcutter, Dhoni swings for the hills and edges it but does not carry to Latham behind the stumps. Single was on offer, but not taken. 12 to win from 4.

49.3, Neesham to Dhoni, 1 run, OUT. Shortish, another legcutter variation from Neesham. Dhoni, just like most part of the day, couldn’t find the timing and rushed back to second to keep the strike. But Bhuvi was slow to come back to the non-striker’s end as Guptill nails the throw to Neesham.

49.4, Neesham to Dhoni, no run. Neesham nails the perfect yorker and Dhoni finds a way to hammer it to long on, denies the single. How late is too late for Dhoni? 11 to win from 2.

49.5, Neesham to Dhoni, SIX runs. Neesham tries another yorker, misses it and delivers the perfect full toss to Dhoni who accepts it and deposits it over deep midwicket. 5 to win from 1.

49.6, Neesham to Dhoni, FOUR runs. IT’S A TIE. After two days of action packed 100 overs, we still can’t separate the sides and we are going into the Super Over. Coming back to the delivery, Neesham had the four fielders inside the circle at Point, short third-man, short fine leg and square leg covering all the fielders in Dhoni’s usual six hitting areas and bowled the yorker length around off stump. Dhoni opened the face of the bat at the last moment and splits the point and short third man to perfection.

Huge sigh of relief for Team India as they live to fight another over. At 92/6 in 30.3 overs, they would have given everything in exchange to get themselves into a Super Over situation. Jadeja for the game he had over the two days, definitely didn’t deserve to lose. Dhoni yet again made it look like he left it too late to comfort, but somehow has managed to tie the game scoring 10 off the last 2. Will he be the guy Kohli be turning to for the Super Over as well? India will have to bat first.

Let’s look at Kohli’s options for the super over. Bowling of course Bumrah dhaan but batting. The kind of world cup Rohit had with 5 centuries. The kind of captain Kohli is in wanting to lead from the front especially with the bat. Brute force with Pandya and Pant. But still his first choice definitely will be Dhoni especially with the momentum.

So Kohli and Dhoni come out to bat for the Super Over. Boult being a left hander might be the only reason why Rohit hasn’t come out and yet he is padded up to come next if a wicket falls. Boult to start the Super Over. Dhoni to take strike.

0.1, Boult to Dhoni, 1 run. Leg stump yorker from Boult. Dhoni doesn’t get the elevation, nor power, completes a quick single turning it down to mid-wicket.

0.2, Boult to Kohli, FOUR runs. Kohli works this leg stump yorker behind short fine leg. Desperate dive from Guptill running from deep square leg and still can’t stop the boundary.

0.3, Boult to Kohli, 2 runs. If ever there was a batting pair that takes Gavaskar’s famous convert those 1s into 2s seriously, it has to be these two. Just tapped to wide to long on fielder and completed the second even before Neesham could throw it back to the keeper.

0.4, Boult to Kohli, 1 run. Boult tries the wide, outside off yorker this time. Kohli manages to get the timing right but quite an exceptional save from Santner at point. Kohli wants the second, Dhoni sends him back.

0.5, Boult to Dhoni, SIX runs. You miss, I hit. Boult misses the yorker by an inch and Dhoni sends it over long on for his biggest six of the evening. 14 from 5.

0.6, Boult to Dhoni, SIX runs. Boult changes the angle. Comes from round the wicket, goes for the wide outside off yorker that’s supposed to keep Dhoni quite these days. But Dhoni knew what was coming, moved a bit, took it on the full and hammers it over deep extra cover for another maximum. India end their Super Over with 20. Surely, this has to be enough for Bumrah.

Nallaaaa irunchu laaaa? Adhuvum Super Over mudiyara varaikum Ian Smith, Ganguly commentary la imagine pannum podhu innum verri yeruthu. Bumrah azhagaa defend panni finals poiruppom. Now back to reality. We lost. Dhoni still thinks he should have dived. As Dravid told in one interview to Mark Nicholas, “I cannot speak highly enough of MS. He has a unique ability to ignore consequences and soak up pressure. This makes it easier for everyone else. …… Win, lose, he can walk away. I don’t know many, if any, who can retain their perspective like he can.”

The sense of detachment is what shocked many. Even recently, Dravid told Sanjay on this walk away like nothing happened part. Like results didn’t matter to him, “You watch MS Dhoni play during the backend of a match when he was at his best, you always felt like that he is doing something really important to him but he is playing it like the result does not really matter to him. I think you need to have that or you need to train for it. It is a skill that I never had. The consequences of any decision mattered to me. It would be interesting to ask MS Dhoni that is this something that has come naturally to him or did he work on this during his career.”

If Dravid, after seeing him grow as a finisher in the early stage of his career, then playing under him tests for years can’t figure out about this detachment, so can’t we. So, it won’t be a surprise if he walks away like he had achieved nothing at all after achieving it all 🥲