3 Review(s)

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is as calm and unruffled a sportsman on the field as he is self-effacing off it. But ‘brute strength’, ‘murderous form’ and ‘a man possessed’ were some of the phrases that came to mind when, on 5 April 2005 in Visakhapatnam, he exploded onto international consciousness by becoming the first regular Indian keeper to score a one-day century. With his striking form on the day, his long locks visible beneath his helmet, red tints glinting in the sunlight, ‘Mahi’ Dhoni had transformed from a boy hailing from an obscure small town to a sports legend with the aura of a rockstar. And yet, Dhoni was no child prodigy, no overnight success. When he made his international debut at 23, he was already mature by Indian cricket standards—with five grinding years of domestic cricket behind him. How that legend came to be, and grew from game to game, is told here by noted sportswriter Gulu Ezekiel in his crackling but measured prose. Captain Cool is the story of M.S. Dhoni, Indian cricket’s poster boy. It is also the heart-warming account of the life of a young man who won India the World Twenty20 in 2007, the 50-over World Cup title in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013, but can still tell his throngs of admirers, ‘I am the same boy from Ranchi.’ .