Captain could have been even greater were it not for his inherent dichotomies
Captaincy is a poisoned chalice, especially in a country of a billion-plus emotional cricket fans.
Were there two Mahendra Singh Dhonis? Or one 'Mahi' and one 'Dhoni'? One laidback Ranchi lad who had the world at his feet through sheer dint of talent and hard work but remained unassuming, and one who loved flashy bikes and flashier strokeplay and went from captain ingenious to captain 'letit-drift' and an aggressor at press conferences?
This isn't a eulogy, for MSD's career is not over in the two formats he made his own. But a hard look at Dhoni's Test career does throw up these dichotomies. How does one reconcile oneself to his numbers? Twenty-one Test wins at home, and just six away. Only three defeats in India but a mind-boggling 15 abroad. A loss percentage of 12.50 before the 2011 World Cup, and 41.66 afterwards.
Captaincy is a poisoned chalice, especially in a country of a billion-plus emotional cricket fans. There's a reason why Dhoni has skippered India in the largest number of matches in history, by far - nobody else apart from Ganguly, Azharuddin, Gavaskar and M.A.K. Pataudi lasted very long. Some couldn't take the pressure, others didn't have any results to speak of. Dhoni was the bridge between the era of Dravid and Tendulkar and the era of Kohli - the one constant in times of great upheaval. He was persisted with because he was the best man for the job, and then when he wasn't, there was no one else to take the job.
Phase One Dhoni was understated, deferential to his teammates and seniors, always saying 'we' in victory and 'I' in defeat, an innovative risktaker and an attacking batsman who could change the game from No.7, a la Adam Gilchrist.
Phase Two Dhoni became more and more defensive, in word and deed, so much so that Virat Kohli's decision to go for the improbable chase in the Adelaide Test would possibly have been nipped in the bud had Dhoni been the captain. Phase Two Dhoni also seemed a bit torn as a batsman,unable to bring his one-day adaptability to the table in Tests, notwithstanding the brilliant 224 against Australia in Chennai last year.
Numbers don't lie, but they often don't reveal the whole truth. Mahendra Singh Dhoni the Test player was just what India needed when he burst on to the scene in 2005. India had never had a reliable batsman donning the big gloves, and the post-Nayan Mongia musical chairs finally stopped when he forced his way into the side from a cricketing backwater.
Dhoni the skipper, with a World Twenty20 title under his belt, was perfect for the job when injury forced Anil Kumble into retirement after the Delhi Test against Australia in 2008.
That his first Test as full-time skipper, in Nagpur, was Sourav Ganguly's last appearance for India was an omen - a passing of the torch between the man who raised the bar and the man who would go one better.
But somewhere down the line, possibly after the World Cup win, things changed. Dhoni was no longer 'Mahi', the small-town boy with big dreams and dollops of talent. He became 'MSD' or 'skipper', and changed from the risk-taker to the safety-first guy who sent five men to the boundary with a tailender on strike. He started chasing the game instead of forcing results. He started thinking of the media as an enemy to besquashed and ridiculed, not a medium to communicate his 'processes' to the public that adored him and his team.
Of course, captaincy will always overshadow his achievements with the bat and the gloves. No one has more Test stumpings, not many wicketkeepers average 38 over 90 Tests. Even in his final Test, Dhoni broke an India record for maximum number of dismissals in a game - nine, and then saved the Test with the bat.
But if there were to be an epitaph for his Test career, it would be along the lines of 'M.S. Dhoni - a great who could've been much greater, but for his inherent dichotomies'.