Backstreet Boy: Who Touched The Summit & Beyond

By Dr Kisholoy Roy

The book is a differentiated biography of former Indian skipper M S Dhoni that celebrates the total journey of the individual as a cricketer through various assorted articles that have been meticulously curated by the author. The author further draws marketing parallels in this book as he compares to Dhoni with a brand that has an inspiring and engaging story to tell and that needs to be shared.
Although there are a number of biographies on Dhoni in the market, this book is very different in its approach and treatment and it surely reflects the unputdownable fan spirit of the author for the man who is the cynosure of this book.
A truly interesting read for anyone who loves the game of cricket and has been mesmerized by Dhoni's aura time and again on and off the field.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr Kisholoy Roy
• Release date: Sep 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005705756

Dr Kisholoy Roy

Dr. Kisholoy Roy is a PhD in Management from IIT (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad. He is a certified Accredited Management Teacher (AMT) who has been into teaching Management for several years now at the post graduate level. Dr Roy has authored several books on management apart from authoring various case studies, articles and research papers. He is presently engaged as an independent trainer and consultant in digital marketing and brand communication apart from his engagements as a faculty in Marketing with various B-schools.

Book preview

Who touched the summit

& Beyond

Dr Kisholoy Roy

Copyright

© Kisholoy Roy, 2020

Copyright of this book solely rests with the author and no part of this book can be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the prior consent of the author. 

A big Thank You to all the writers whose published works in the freely accessible domain on the Internet made this book a truly differentiated and well curated biography 

Contents

Prelude

Dr Kisholoy Roy

Prologue

Shantanu Guha Roy, Bastab K Parida, Aakash Saini

Introduction

Rohan Sen, Yash Mittal, Bhaveshb, Wriddhaayan Bhattacharyya, Karthik Nair, Akhil Nair

Growth

Somak Adhikari, Rohan Sen, Santosh Desai, Suveen K. Sinha, Tariq Engineer

Maturity

Abhimanyu Mathur, Tulika Bhattacharya, Amit Kumar, Suvajit Mustafi, Anjali Thakur, Aditya Chaturvedi, Rajarshi Gupta, Boria Majumdar

Epilogue

Devdan Mitra, Santosh Desai, Sandeep Dwivedi

Prelude

At the outset, pardon me if this piece of write up seems to be a marketing stuff rather than a prelude to a differentiated biography. Differentiated because it’s a biography curated of published articles related to various milestone moments in the professional career of the personality this book is all about. Actually a person like me who has the marketing fluid running in his veins often does end up finding a marketing parallel to everything around him. Claude C. Hopkins, author of the landmark book Scientific Advertising opined about brands that a brand is a name that tells a story. Well if that is the case and since most of us are aware of the concept of personality brands, does Brand Dhoni tell a story? Well, I firmly believe that all those who have been keenly following the game of cricket over the years will agree that Brand Dhoni definitely tells a story, a story that is inspiring, that is realistic and that really makes one an aficionado of this backstreet boy without a second thought.  

All those who have checked out the biopic of M S Dhoni played by late actor Sushant Singh Rajput or had resided at Ranchi during the pre-Jharkhand days, know very well that Ranchi was all about the manufacturing sector and engineering consultancy and research. It was about several bright students who made it big in the pan-India entrance examinations after passing from the convent schools of the town. Apart from that, things were pretty mundane and one could have never imagined about the town getting famous for an iconic celebrity one day. It was during those pre-Jharkhand days in the 90s that Dhoni took to the field as a cricketer representing his school first and later on his state. But since his international debut in 2004, it took just a year for MSD to not just establish his reputation but also bring Ranchi, then a state capital into limelight. What followed needs no further elaboration over here. It was magic, it was leadership, it was superlative talent and it was top class cricket at its best. 

Coming to this book and its layout, since I consider M S Dhoni to be a brand and since every brand has a lifecycle that comprises a (Prologue), Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline, this book too has its sections chiseled out in a similar fashion. In Dhoni’s case, however there was pleasantly no playing phase of his to be referred to as ‘Decline’. It has been Dhoni’s smart and agile cricketing brain that disallowed any sort of moss gathering in his performance. He always looked for ways to better his cricket and was one rare cricketer who knew when to hang his boots. Whether it was his retirement from test cricket, his stepping down as a captain of the one day team or his final retirement announcement, we witnessed that Dhoni executed his decision before murmurs could start taking the form of tangible statements in the public domain. Yes, I have added a phase called ‘Prologue’ since every brand goes through some amount of test marketing, sharpening the positives, eliminating the shortcomings before finally seeking the real market exposure. A similar phenomenon happened in Dhoni’s case as he kept building on his strengths for years together in domestic games before emerging on the international horizon well equipped to handle the gigantic pressure and meteoric public expectations.

The period between 2004-2007 (prior to the inaugural edition of the T20 Cricket World Cup) can well be considered the Introduction phase of Brand Dhoni. The followers of the game were getting to know the genius of the player, his cool cricketing brain and of course his signature ‘helicopter shot’ that mesmerized the opposition as well the audiences. After the inaugural edition of the T20 Cricket World Cup was surprisingly won by India under Dhoni’s captaincy, the Growth phase of this ‘cool’ brand started. The victory in the tournament spoke volumes of Dhoni’s leadership skills since the team was without the services of its stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid or for that matter many other senior players. It was a relatively novice contingent who had fire in their belly to go out there and proove themselves and it was Dhoni who just ensured to keep that fire alive throughout the tournament among his teammates. 

From September 2007 till around the mid of 2013 was the period when the Growth in Brand Dhoni was observed and that growth was a stupendous one as within this period MSD and his ‘Men in Blue’ conquered both the ICC Cricket World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy and also won one of the editions of the coveted Asia Cup. Repeating the world cup victory and that too in front of a highly expecting home crowd was never an easy task. Yet it was the firm self belief and the stellar confidence in Dhoni who lifted his game at the most significant moment of the tournament and gifted we Indians an unforgettable moment as he hit the decisive sixer of the finale. By then of course we ardent followers of the game were well conversant with Dhoni’s reputation as the classy ‘finisher’ of the game since by then we had witnessed enough IPL games where Dhoni took a game away from the opposition almost single handedly and bailed out his Chennai SuperKings franchise out of dire states. 

Precisely speaking, since the end of 2013, the Maturity phase in Brand Dhoni emerged. It was during this phase that we saw Dhoni playing the role of a mentor more than captain to the team. However, he played many a defining innings for the country both in test and especially in one day and T20 cricket. It was during this phase of MSD’s career that a biopic on him titled M S Dhoni: The Untold Story was made and I must say that it has been the most authentic cinematic portrayal of a sports icon Indian cinema till date. This was the phase when Dhoni zeroed on his junior Virat Kohli as the possible individual in the team to whom he could pass on the mantle of captaincy. In the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup Down Under, MSD played many useful innings and it was his able handling of resources in the batting and bowling department that took India to the semis till they were met with the brilliance of Steve Smith which denied India any further progress in the tournament. 

Speaking about the Maturity phase or let’s say the extended Maturity phase of Brand Dhoni, we see this super champ collaborating with another batting super power Virat Kohli on many occasions to cement certain successful partnerships during the one dayers and T20s. One such occasion was in the match against Australia in the 2016 T20 Cricket World Cup. And then of course, who can forget that last game of his career? That last ODI he played for the country in the semi final match of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. When the team was on the verge of suffering a humiliating defeat in the hands of Black Caps, it was the sheer resilience of Dhoni coupled with the audacity of Ravindra Jadeja’s batting prowess that took India so near to an almost unthinkable victory under the given circumstances. This one innings would always stand testimony to the fact that Brand Dhoni never suffered the so called "Decline’ in his cricketing carrer. He always carried the potential in him to strike surprises at moments when it really mattered and that certainly is the hallmark of a great cricketing talent. Each and every of the above mentioned segments in this book celebrates the journey of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a cricketer by way of published articles that appeared in the newspapers, magazines and on other media vehicles. Most of the major innings played by the swashbuckling batsman in international cricket find their mention in this book. The ultimate segment of the book is titled Epilogue which presents various published articles post the announcement of retirement by M S Dhoni on his Instagram account on August 15th 2020. 

Backstreet Boy, the book authored by me is an ode to an Indian cricketer who emerged from the least expected backyard of Indian cricket, established his own genre of cricket, paved his own path to glory, slogged through a myraid problems in his life both as a cricketer and as a human being and was the man who became one of the most sought after role models for a huge cross section of people in India and abroad. A courageous cricketer, a resilient cricketer, a non-temperamental cricketer who fought and fought hard with focus and determination to touch the summit and beyond!

Prologue

Wikipedia Says..

Junior cricket in Bihar

In 1998, Dhoni was selected by Deval Sahay to play for the Central Coal Fields Limited (CCL) team. Till 1998 Dhoni, who was in class 12th in school, had played only school cricket and club cricket and no professional cricket. One of the famous episodes, when Dhoni used to play for CCL, was when Deval Sahay used to gift him Rs 50 for each six that he hit in Sheesh Mahal tournament cricket matches. Playing for CCL, he got a chance to bat up the order. He grabbed the opportunity and scored centuries and helped CCL move to the A division. Deval Sahay impressed by his hard-hitting shots and dedication, used his contacts in Bihar Cricket Association to push for his selection in the Bihar team. Deval Sahay, an ex Bihar Cricket Association Vice-President, was the Ranchi District Cricket President at that time and was instrumental in pushing Dhoni to the big stage of Ranchi team, junior Bihar cricket team and eventually senior Bihar Ranji Team for the 1999–2000 season. Within 1 year, Dhoni moved from playing in CCL to the Bihar Ranji team. Dhoni has credited Deval Sahay for instilling discipline in him.[35] Dhoni was included in the Bihar U-19 squad for the 1998–99 season and scored 176 runs in 5 matches (7 innings) as the team finished fourth in the group of six and did not make it to the quarter-finals. Dhoni was not picked for the East Zone U-19 squad (CK Nayudu Trophy) or Rest of India squad (MA Chidambaram Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy). Bihar U-19 cricket team advanced to the finals of 1999–2000 Cooch Behar Trophy, where Dhoni made 84 to help Bihar post a total of 357. Bihar's efforts were dwarfed by Punjab U-19s' 839 with Dhoni's future national squad teammate Yuvraj Singh making 358. Dhoni's contribution in the tournament included 488 runs (9 matches, 12 innings), 5 fifties, 17 catches and 7 stumpings. Dhoni made it to the East Zone U-19 squad for the CK Nayudu trophy but scored only 97 runs in four matches, as East Zone lost all four matches and finished last in the tournament.

Bihar cricket team

Dhoni made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar in the 1999–2000 season, as an eighteen-year-old. He made a half century in his debut match scoring 68* in the second innings against Assam cricket team. Dhoni finished the season with 283 runs in 5 matches. Dhoni scored his maiden first-class century while playing for Bihar against Bengal in the 2000/01 season, in a losing cause. Apart from this century, his performance in the 2000/01 season did not include another score over fifty and in the 2001/02 season, he scored just five fifties in four Ranji matches.

Jharkhand cricket team

Dhoni's performance in the 2002–03 season included three half-centuries in the Ranji Trophy and a couple of half-centuries in the Deodhar Trophy, as he started gaining recognition for his lower-order contribution as well as hard-hitting batting style. In the 2003/04 season, Dhoni scored a century (128*) against Assam in the first match of the Ranji ODI tournament. Dhoni was part of the East Zone squad that won the Deodhar Trophy 2003–2004 season and contributed with 244 runs in 4 matches, including a century (114) against Central zone.

In the Duleep Trophy finals, Dhoni was picked over