Mahendra Singh Dhoni: The Curious Story of Dhoni's Stardom in Indian Cricket

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is, what many may call, an enigma, or for some, an emotion will turn 39 today. But, Folks, before you start reading my write-up, first let me confess you all that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Dhoni fanatic💗 and how it happened was a brilliant knock played by Mahi Bhai more than 15 years ago. So, here's the brief story of that day for you all.

I clearly remember that it was a bright and sunny day on 5th April 2005, when Ranchi-lad Mahendra Singh Dhoni had announced his arrival with a Bang-Bang in the international cricket. The ace wicket-keeper batsman has smashed his first international century in the game against none other than arch-rival Pakistan in the 2nd ODI of the 6-match home series at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam.  

Well, the exciting part of this story is that then Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly gamble gives birth to another megastar of Indian cricket. However, what prompted Dada 👀 to promote Mahi Bhai to No. 3, nobody knows that except the former maverick Indian captain Ganguly. 

In the match, India won the toss and opted to bat first, but Team India has lost the wicket of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar in the 4th over of the innings, with the team's score at 26 was an early setback. However, everyone was expected to see Dada walking to the middle, but the sturdy frame of MS Dhoni emerged from the dressing room.

The younger Dhoni got excellent support from flamboyant Virender Sehwag and Team India's Mr Dependable Rahul Dravid in the middle to score runs for the team. Thanks to these two gentlemen, Dhoni was able to play freely as he smashed 15 fours and 4 sixes in his innings and managed to play a knock of 148 runs from 123 balls, by taking Men in Blue total to 356/9 in the 50 overs.

The match result was that India managed to defend the total as the side bundled out Pakistan for 298, where left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra scalped four wickets.

So far, he has played 350 ODIs and smashed 10,773 runs in total, where his highest score being 183 against Sri Lanka, with a spectacular avg of 50.57. Also, he remains the only skipper to win all major ICC trophies (2011 ODI World Cup, 2007 T20 World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy). During his leadership, Team India managed to attain the number 1 ranking in Test cricket. Apart from that, his Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings has managed to win the tournament 3 times under his captaincy.

Currently, Mahi Bhai has been on a sabbatical from international cricket since India's semi-final defeat by 18 runs in the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand at Manchester, England. While me and over a billion other fans were excited to see our favourite cricketer return to action in the IPL 2020, but unfortunately his exile from professional cricket got further extended due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. 

In the end, just want to Thank... Dil Se! 💓 to Mahi Bhai for carrying the hopes of 130 crore Indians 😇 and delivering it, time and time again! 💙 

Sincerely, 
Your Fan.

Irrfan Khan: Tumko Yaad Rakhenge Guru Hum

Before I begin to say anything, I would like to confess that I wasn't a movie buff. Until I haven't watched Haasil in the scorching heat of June 2003 in the movie theatre in Chhapra (a small town in Bihar) with some of my friends. I was fascinated and mesmerized by the superb acting of "Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan", famously known as "Irrfan Khan" by portraying the main protagonist of Ranvijay Singh. 

The reason for the liking of this cult classic movie was that it is set and shot in and around Allahabad, where the local dialect is pretty much similar of mine in Chhapra and the brilliant acting of Irrfan, for which he later won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in a negative role.

Today, afternoon, when the news reports came that Irrfan, 53, has breathed his last in Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital due to a colon infection, at first, I couldn't believe that it's true, but unfortunately, it was.

One of the most versatile actors in the modern Indian cinema classics was born on January 7, 1967, in Jaipur to a Muslim Nawab family. Interestingly, while studying for his master's degree, he earned a scholarship in 1984 to study at the country's premier acting school, National School of Drama in Delhi. After graduating in 1987, Irrfan moved to the city of dreams — Mumbai, where he acted in several TV soap operas such as Chanakya, Banegi Apni Baat, Chandrakanta and Star Bestsellers.

One of the major USP of him that he always maintained a parallel career in Anglo-American cinema: He played the chief of police in Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart, and another police officer in the sensationally successful Slumdog Millionaire, which went on to win 8 Oscars.

However, some of the later roles saw him become a reliable standby character actor in big-budget Hollywood films, playing a doctor in The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 and businessmen in Jurassic World (2015) and Inferno (2016). Also, in 2012, he played the lead role in another Oscar-winner Life of Pi.

Meanwhile, Irrfan became the box office chartbuster with getting success in The Lunchbox, in which he played an accountant who strikes up a letter-writing romance with sadistic housewife Nimrat Kaur. Also, he shared the screen space with superstar Amitabh Bachchan and B-town diva Deepika Padukone in comedy-drama Piku.

Some of his other successful movies are Hindi Medium, Talvar, Paan Singh Tomar and Maqbool. Throughout his career, he won several awards like Filmfare Award, National Award and other international accolades.

In the end, I would like to say that I recently watched his latest flick Angrezi Medium, little did I know that it's going to be his last work for all of us. I have tears in my eyes for a person, whom I know mostly from watching his films, interviews and a super lucky chance to mee

t him as a person during an event in the national capital couple of years back.

You'll be missed Irrfan Bhai for sure. And by recalling your dialogue in the cult classic movie Haasil, one of my all-time favourite film of yours, Tumko Yaad Rakhenge Guru Hum"!