Mahendra Singh Dhoni Tuesday had a date with destiny as he got to lead India for the 200th time in ODIs, nearly two years after giving up captaincy on his own terms.
With skipper Rohit Sharma and his deputy Shikhar Dhawan being rested after four matches in six days, it was nothing but sheer destiny that India's most successful captain walked out alongside match referee Andy Pycroft and Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan for the toss in their Asia Cup game.
Dhoni has never bothered about milestones and that is why he remained unfazed while calling time on his Test career with 10 short of 100 matches, a benchmark for any cricketer worth his salt.
It didn't matter to Dhoni one bit even though he had no competition.
No wonder when the decision to quit ODI captaincy was announced in early January 2017, his fans were less surprised. It didn't matter that he had a chance to captain India in 200 ODIs.
But then if destiny had made an elaborate plan, it was not in Dhoni's hands to change the script.
“I was not really sure of where I am standing. I have captained in 199 ODIs, so this gives me an opportunity to make it 200. It’s all destiny and I always believed in that,” Dhoni said with a poker face when Russell Arnold posed the question at the toss.
Since numbers didn't matter during his halcyon days, it was all the more expected that it would matter even less when he is in the twilight of his illustrious career.
“It’s not in my control, once I left captainship,” he said when asked if he ever thought that he would be able to complete 200 ODIs as captain.
Then came the usual Dhoni answer.
"Good to complete 200, but I don't think it really matters," he sounded business as usual.
But people who were used to see him lead for 10 years were happy.
"He is hundred percent the most popular Indian captain," Sunil Gavaskar made the most telling statement.
Teams for India vs Afghanistan ODI
India: Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni(wicketkeeper/captain), Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Siddarth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed
Afghanistan: Mohammad Shahzad(wicketkeeepr), Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan(captain), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
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