Masters of Indian Cricket! MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar share a moment in practice (File pic).
© AFP
December 23 is an important date in the annals of Indian cricket. It will always leave Indian cricket fans with mixed emotions for it signalled the end of a glorious chapter and also the start of a new one.
On this date in 2004, exactly 10 years ago, a broad-shouldered young man with long, straight brown hair came all the way from Jharkhand to represent India in ODIs. It was the start of an eventful career and the making of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Eight years later in 2012, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar brought down the curtains on his exemplary 24-year-long ODI career.
Tendulkar and Dhoni have had similar impacts on the life and times of an average Indian cricket fan. While Tendulkar, the 16-year-old, soft-spoken Mumbaikar made his way into the international circuit and charmed the fans in the 90s with his unmatched perfection with the bat, Dhoni enthralled his fans from the late 2000s with his ice-cool demeanor complemented perfectly by a tough exterior.
One spent as many as 24 years in the middle, collecting every possible batting record along the way while the other has been around for 10 years and has won almost every international trophy that has been on offer. When Tendulkar finished, he had 18,426 runs in 463 ODIs, including 49 100s and 96 50s. Tendulkar captured the imagination of millions when he became the first to score a double century in the format of the game (against South Africa in 2010).
Dhoni, on the other hand, has a choc-a-bloc trophy cabinet, filled with notable trophies from the ICC World T20 2007, Tri-series in Australia 2008, Asia Cup 2010, ICC World Cup 2011, ICC Champions Trophy 2013 and has eyes firmly rooted on the 2015 title.
Tendulkar's ODI career was a joyous ride with more ups than downs, in the course of which he played some scintillating knocks that remain the epitome of batting displays. From his famous 'desert storm' knock of 143 against Australia in 1998 and the cathartic 140 vs Kenya in the 1999 World Cup to the awe-inspiring 98 vs Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup and his long-awaited 100th international 100 versus Bangladesh in 2013, Tendulkar has won hearts like none other in the country.
Dhoni started his ODI career in slam-bang style, smashing 148 against Pakistan in only his 5th ODI. That was just a glimpse of the plethora of colossal batting displays that soon followed. In no time, Dhoni established himself in the middle-order and was being spoken in the same breath as South Africa's Lance Klusener and Australia's Michael Bevan in terms for his ability as a finisher. Dhoni also solved India's perrenial problem of finding a good wicketkeeper. He took over from 'stand-in' keeper Rahul Dravid and currently has 315 dismissals (227 catches, 85 stumpings) to his name.
Dhoni's first tryst with captaincy came in the 2007 T20 World Cup, the same year when the Dravid-led side had suffered a shocking first-round ouster in the 50-over format of the tournament. Dhoni led a new generation of Indian cricketers and the title win in 2007 was when Indian cricket's brand-new chapter began to be written.
Dhoni followed that up with more trophies and successful run chases. The image of Dhoni smashing the winning-six off Lankan pacer Nuwan Kulasekara to give his side a World Cup after a 28-year-long wait will be passed on for generations. It was under the leadership of Dhoni, that Tendulkar fulfilled his long-drawn dream of holding a World Cup trophy aloft.
A couple of years after doing so and getting to his 100th international century, Tendulkar decided to call time on his ODI career. He finished against the same team he started off as a young boy - Pakistan -- and signed off with a half-century at Dhaka in March 2013. As for Dhoni, the 33-year-old ambitious skipper with 250 ODIs under his belt, there are a few more miles to go before he sleeps.
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