Opening Doorz

By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | October 26, 2019

Ravi Shastri is a cool dude. He has yet to make a comment on his pictures doing the rounds with the caption: Indian team will deliver soon… However, he has found time to say, “Half the people commenting on MSD don’t know to tie their shoe laces.” I’m sure the people commenting are not two-year-olds. He also goes on to add, “Dhoni has earned the right to retire when he wants to. And let this debate end once and for all.”

I did not know playing cricket and winning a World Cup meant you could retire whenever you decide to!

Which means, Sourav Ganguly is the BCCI chief for nothing and he or the Indian selectors have no say when Dhoni will retire just because he won the T20 World Cup and the One-Day World Cup in 2011? And if Dhoni says he will come back after a year, Shastri will say, “Welcome back, don’t worry, you have won us the T20 and One-Day World Cup; this team is for you to walk out and walk in whenever you want to.”

Aisa hota hai kya, Shastri? Can Syed Kirmani walk into the Indian team just because he was a member of the winning team in 1983? Just because you flew down from Australia during the World Cup in 1992, ran a round to prove your fitness at the Braboune Stadium (after your knee injury) and flew back to play in the tournament, you think players can do the same today?

Times have changed. Those days we had around 8 players who never changed in the Indian team (including you). There were always more than 5 players from Bombay in the Indian cricket team. Not anymore. Your days, cricketers made a dive after the ball crossed the boundary, today cricketers intercept the ball to stop the boundary!

The game is bigger than the player and if Mahendra Singh Dhoni has won India the World Cup he should consider himself blessed that he did the country proud. There are many talented players who never got the Big Break! Remember Padmakar Shivalkar and how Sunil Gavaskar favoured you over him? Do you also remember how Wanhkede Stadium reverberated with, “Shastri, Hai Hai…”  whenever you walked out?

It is the viewers who make the game great, don’t ever forget that. Everyone has a right to an opinion; you have no right to shut them up and decide for Dhoni.

Also Read: Time to crack the whip on MSD!
Also Read: Dil ke armaan aansuon mein beh gaye…