Finally, that time has arrived where the lights have gone off the stadia in India, the crowds have exited, there are no more prize giving celebrations and the scoreboards no longer suggest the outcome of a T20 contest.
No more of that deafening sound. No more buzz in the crowds.
And therefore, no more than the gala that occurs when cricket’s most entertaining format becomes a celebration.
No fewer than than 74 matches are done and dusted; some very close games, others maybe not so much!
Though, most importantly, a caravan of cricket that takes place in a country that truly celebrates it like no other in the world is now finally over.
However, that’s not before producing a live wire of a tournament that kept us on the tenterhooks and truly on the edge of the seats for no fewer than a month and a half.
When it was on, the only thing that featured on the minds of the cricket tragic was the much loved T20 league of them all: the Indian Premier League.
One was obsessing- and rather understandably so- about the massive sixes, plenty of young emerging faces, the enormity of team totals where several went easily beyond 200 that made the IPL such a blast while it lasted.
And now all that remains of the Indian Premier League, over and above many great memories, is the thought of that man who the country truly adores.
The one who not only led his team to yet another IPL final, but even emerged on the winning side in 2024.
The captain Indian Cricket was fortunate to have; the maker of men, the inspirer of a generation.
The captain that you simply cannot imagine the firmament of Chennai SuperKings without.
To most others, he’s Mr. Cool, one without whom imagining the Chennai franchise in the course of the future may not even be possible.
But cricket knows him as do those who’d never give up on him as the one and only Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
While he may not have clearly been the most watchable or successful batsman around this season, Dhoni was still, as per normal, the inspirational captain one expected him to be.
Forget not that Chennai as a franchise didn’t gamble with a change in captaincy in the past; remember how Jadeja, the scorer of the winnings runs in the 2023 total win, was brought in to guide the next generation of talents.
But ultimately, the massive challenge of captaincy came to finally rest on the able shoulders of Dhoni, the all-weather, go-to stalwart leader.
And while the runs didn’t really come and maybe the number 8 as the batting position didn’t yield the results as he’d have liked, Dhoni the leader was doing his level best.
The resolute but no nonsense leadership, quick footed thinking from behind the stumps and the display of calm even during a moment of pressure bore the classic MS Dhoni signature.
Chennai Super Kings have appointed Ruturaj Gaikwad as their captain for IPL 2024, taking over the reins from the legendary MS Dhoni.
Nothing riled him back in the day. Nothing riled him this time around as well.
And there could be nothing bigger than MS Dhoni actually staying true to his words at the conclusion of the glorious final, “the real challenge for me would be to work on the body for the next eight to nine months and play, at least, one more season as a gift for them (fans)!!” – MS Dhoni
Circumstantially, it’s the best time to announce retirement. The easy thing for me is to say is thank you and retire. But the amount of love I have received from CSK fans, it would be a gift for them to (see me) play one more season.
– MS Dhoni
Truly, MSD, if you can, then you certainly must.