MS Dhoni's 113 against Pakistan in 2012

[DHONI183]

Right from my earliest years of being a cricket follower, I´d always had an attraction or kind of a fascination for players who´d perform in such pressure situations (with wickets fallen etc.). However, it´s pure coincidence that my favourite batsman ended up becoming such a clutch player, because perceiving MS as that kind of a player back in the spring of 2005 was a guess most far fetched. It was kind of a huge bonus for me and something immensely satisfying to see MS develop himself in ODI cricket as an almost equivalent of what VVS Laxman was in Test cricket. I´m proud of a number of his innings, but not many make me as proud as this jaw-dropping effort, the hitting in a century scored against Australia in October 2013, the last-wicket blinder against Sri Lanka in a final in 2013 and the innings on a certain night in Mumbai that requires no mention.

Even now when he´s struggling a great deal and on days seems like a mere shadow of what he was, if he does pull of an innings here or there, it´s always the under pressure of early wickets or a mid-innings collapse. It just seems as if such situations switch on his inner MS who enjoys the liberty he gets to take as much time as he wants to get set and then blast towards the end of the innings if the need be.

That innings was a moment of immense pride for me as his fan. The stage of an Indo-Pak encounter, early collapse, relentless bowling and the merciless heat of Chennai. It´ll hardly ever be better!