MS Dhoni remains the Ranchi boy ever

Ranchi, March 6 

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The lives that Mahendra Singh Dhoni touched over the years have a sense of belonging to him without trying to own him.

Whether it is childhood coach Keshab Ranjan Banerjee, biology teacher Sushma Shukla or Mecon Stadium in-charge Uma Kant Jena, there is a sense of fulfilment when they talk about their small but significant parts in the journey of one of India’s most successful captains.

The film ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’ is a guilty pleasure for Dhoni fans. And there is a curiosity about how different or similar the real life characters are from the reel ones when one roams around the industrial town to understand the Dhoni phenomenon. “Some people asked me ‘were you paid as they portrayed your character in the film’ and I was disgusted,” Banerjee said, sitting in his two-bedroom flat.

“I am not his father but a father figure. It’s a shame if a father demands anything from his son,” he asserted.

“He still is a very shy boy. He could always hide his feelings behind a smile. He knew that cricket was his calling,” he added. “I have got a couple of passes for the third ODI. I had called up Mahi’s mother and she had arranged for them,” he said referring to India’s third ODI against Australia here on Friday.

Humble boy

Humility is something that almost everyone associates with Dhoni. “He was a very quiet child. I taught him biology in 7th and 8th. I remember asking him, ‘Mahendra, you are Singh or Dhoni?’ He never liked that question. He replied ‘ma’am hum Singh bhi hain aur Dhoni bhi’,” recalled Jawahar Vidya Mandir’s retired teacher Sushma Shukla.

“He was getting 60 percent even when he was fully devoted to cricket. I remember that he bunked a biology practical test as he had a match and boarded the same train by which I was travelling. Probably he knew I was there and one of his teammates came to me and said, ‘ma’am you are Mahendra’s teacher. I said ‘who Dhoni?’ The boy informed that he had skipped a biology practical test for a match. ‘But ma’am, this boy will become world famous’. His words were prophetic,” Shukla said.

Both Shukla and PT teacher Abha Sahay are mini celebrities in their localities. “I stay in my native town in Maharashtra and since we were shown for around 30 seconds in that film, they now know me as Dhoni’s teacher,” she added.

For Sahay, the respect that she gets as Dhoni’s teacher is something that she will not trade off for anything. 

“We feel proud that probably we played a little role in the making of a humble human being. He is a great sportsman but that humility is something that a lot of people don’t possess after enjoying heady success,” Sahay said. 

Uma Kant Jena, the ground in-charge of Mecon, had first seen Dhoni in 1985 when he was three-and-a-half-years old. “That’s the colony gate and Mahiyaa would roam around with a plastic bat and ball. ‘Tum phir dhoop mein bahaar’,” Jena remembered scolding him. “Who would have thought he would achieve so much? Once, after he became India captain, he came and gave my son Bijay a bat and keeping gloves. He promised him a full kit if he performed well. And you know what was most embarrassing? He would sit on the floor while I sat on the chair. I would tell him please don’t do this but he won’t listen,” Jena said. Banerjee recalled how Dhoni once dropped in late at night to wish him for his marriage anniversary. — PTI

HOW DHONI ALMOST PULLED OFF AN IMPOSSIBLE CATCH

MS Dhoni almost pulled off an impossible catch in the 33rd over of the second ODI against Australia when Peter Handscomb was facing Kedar Jadhav. The right-hander went for a paddle sweep. The 37-year-old, still very agile, anticipated the shot from behind the stumps and moved towards his left to almost pull off a stunner. However, the ball kissed his gloves and fell away.