One World Cup ends, another begins: Can MS Dhoni morph into the mentor Kohli needs?

In the end, MS Dhoni seemed to have given up. With one stump to aim at, Glenn Maxwell lined up the stumps and quickly released ball.

Dhoni, ever the pragmatist, realised that if the ball was to hit, he would be out by a mile. So with no one at the stumps to collect the ball, he decided there was no point in sprinting. He left it to fate… destiny… and Maxwell’s accuracy.

Maxwell hit and almost immediately many people got up from their seats and started towards the exit. It was the end. When Dhoni falls, the match ends. That is un-nerving truth we have been programmed to believe.

But till that point, Indian fans clung on to the hope that Dhoni’s stay at the wicket seems to inspire in us, each and every time. We didn’t give up and neither did Dhoni. If there is any man capable to working a miracle while chasing, it is Dhoni. He tried to take it as close to the target as possible before launching an hara-kiri attack of sorts. In the end, though, Australia had too much class and too many runs on board.

When he was later asked whether he started going for his shots too late, his reply was just as straight to the point: “If we have started going for our shots too early, we might have been bowled out for 170. So you have time it right and I tried to do that.”

He also quickly scuffed all speculation on his retirement by saying that he will be around till at least next year’s T20 World Cup. It is only after that he will take a call on whether he wants to play till the 2019 World Cup. Words that caused many a fan to heave a sigh of relief but also words should make us wonder how to best – for want of a better word – use him in the coming year.

Dhoni has felt many emotions in his 33 years: hope and anger, disappointment, joy and despair. He may not let any of it show… yesterday, though, the defeat against Australia must have felt like the end of a journey… it sure felt like that to us.

Therefore, even though it might seem ludicrous – given that India reached the semi-final of the World Cup – this is when India must break away from Dhoni. It is time to let go of the captain – winner of 100 ODIs as skipper; winner of the World Cup, the Champions Trophy, the T20 World Cup; their most successful skipper.

Before you wonder whether the need for such a drastic thought exists – rest assured – it does. Not in the present but in the future and that is why we need to plan for it now.

When Dhoni tells you that he might be gone in a year for now – the BCCI and the selectors need to take note and elevate Dhoni to a mentor role and let Virat Kohli take over in ODIs and T20s as well.

They need to do that – while at the same time installing Dhoni firmly as a mentor. In his prime, Sourav Ganguly had Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to give him the good advice he needed. But even then the final decision had to be his own. Dhoni himself had a Tendulkar and a host of veterans to fall back on but even then, the final decision always belonged to the captain.

And taking the tough decisions as captain takes some doing. But it helps to have some veterans around to help you on the field. Tests and ODIs – as Dhoni himself has shown – require a very different brand of captaincy. While one can be brilliant in one, the struggle can be far too evident in the other.

Dhoni’s sudden retirement from Test cricket robbed India and Kohli of a chance to learn from his experience but now that he has put a vague time limit in place for ODIs and T20s, the opportunity must be grabbed.

And that is why India needs to back Kohli right away. There is a long home season – Kohli will be able to experiment, understand the ebb and flow of the game from a captain’s viewpoint and in case, he needs some help – he only needs to look towards Dhoni.

Many cricketers – read Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Graeme Smith – have continued to contribute to the team even after giving up captaincy and there is no reason Dhoni can’t do the same especially when it leads to a better, stronger future for the nation.

When Graeme Smith decided to step down as skipper in 2011, his views made a lot of sense especially given the current predicament of Indian cricket.

“I said to AB it is very important that he establishes himself in the job and finds his way. I will always be supportive if he needs me. He will need senior players to support him and I feel I will be a good shoulder for him to lean on,” Smith had said.

Kohli, too, will need Dhoni’s shoulder. And in India’s case, only Dhoni’s shoulder will do. There is no other senior player. The coaches are there, as is Ravi Shastri but they aren’t on the field, they aren’t on the same level.

Without Dhoni around, Kohli will be driving blind… seeking his own path. He may find it on his own as well but it will take longer… much longer. But the 33-year-old could light the path and make the journey that little bit easier.

Someone once said, ‘I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand’ – Kohli has heard it all; he has seen it all too… now it is time for him to do it his way.

And for that he needs Dhoni’s help.