{"id":4818,"date":"2016-03-20T02:16:07","date_gmt":"2016-03-19T20:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4818"},"modified":"2016-03-20T02:16:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-19T20:46:07","slug":"aging-legends-ms-dhoni-chris-gayle-imran-tahir-cricket-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=4818","title":{"rendered":"How Aging Legends Like Dhoni, Chris Gayle, Imran Tahir Make All the Difference in a World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

C<\/span>hennai Super Kings had just lost the IPL final by a whisker. There was a wave of disappointment at the ground right after the final. Hours later though, players are huddled in one of the rooms at the hotel. There are a few quips, laughter breaks out and the mood is pretty relaxed and positive. <\/p>MS Dhoni<\/span><\/a> finds his smile, and we end up talking about his daughter and how fatherhood has changed him. The 37-year-old former India captain had probably already set his sights on the next hurdle \u2013 the 2019 ICC World Cup. This is a tournament he won in his prime, leading from the front as skipper, and he returns to it today as a decorated veteran, with nothing to prove to anybody except himself. But will the largest stage in world cricket have place for an aging legend, or is the gentleman\u2019s game the domain of young men?<\/span>\n\nConventional wisdom would favour youth, but everyone remembers Pakistan\u2019s \u201ccornered tigers\u201d, \u00a0led by the oldest of them all at 39, clawing their way to an astounding World Cup win in 1992. It was a jaw-dropping episode in the history of world cricket because no one had believed in them. But <\/span>Pakistan<\/span><\/a> would emerge from the slump and turn things around, and an almost 40-year-old Imran Khan would script a fairy-tale comeback. Such a triumph, we all thought, was an aberration. <\/span>\n\nWith every World Cup comes the hype around young guns, and fresh legs score over old hands. But this edition has been about the old warhorses. <\/span>Shikhar Dhawan<\/span><\/a> and David Warner, both opening batsmen over the age of 30, have scored centuries to help their teams to victory in the early stages. The 40-year-old spinner Imran Tahir is opening the bowling attack for his side, and 38-year-old Mohammad Hafeez serves as the core of Pakistan\u2019s batting line-up. As it does with Dhoni, the same question crops up with them \u2013 what motivates these men to keep fighting against the inevitable march of time?<\/span>\n\nThe hunger to achieve doesn\u2019t just come from being who you are and what the sport has made you, but also from where you started your journey. That probably holds true for the oldest player at the World Cup this time, South African spinner Imran Tahir. It wasn\u2019t too long ago that I was sitting across him at the breakfast table in a hotel. And many mornings thereafter, we\u2019d catch up over <\/span>breakfast<\/span><\/a>. Like clockwork, he\u2019d always appear at the same time every day, carrying a bag of almonds and walnuts to add to the porridge made for him. Having been a journeyman for years, playing for innumerable clubs all over the world before he forged a bond with South Africa, Imran Tahir never flinched from his routine, as disciplined as a youngster learning the ropes even today. <\/span>\n\n\u201cI could have just sat around and thought that my hands will do the magic, instead I worked and trained every day, and took care of my health. My motivation has nothing to do with whether <\/span>South Africa<\/span><\/a> has won the World Cup or not, my fans motivate me every day, and I want to win the World Cup for the lovely people of South Africa. I strongly believe that with age comes experience and that definitely adds to the team\u2019s performance, no matter where in the world you may play,\u201d says Tahir, who had to go through many hardships to get where he is today. Poverty, lack of opportunities, and the hunger to fight his own destiny are all reasons for Tahir to stay in the game. <\/span>\n

“When you have all the experience in one room it will overshadow youth, because when you are young you may be fearless but you make a lot of mistakes.”<\/blockquote>\nThe other wise man leading the senior contingent at the World Cup is more flamboyance and less reticence. Chris Gayle is nearing 40, but walks out to bat each time like he\u2019s just burst on to the <\/span>cricket<\/span><\/a> scene.<\/span>\n\n\u201cHis game does not rely on speed and agility like other players. He will stand at slip, he will stand at short fine leg, short third man. Throughout his career he was never known for running between the <\/span>wickets<\/span><\/a>. He relies on his power, eyesight, and experience to guide him through 50 overs and T20s. He is very motivated to do well, especially when people continue bringing up the age factor. Chris Gayle can play longer and continue to dominate bowling attacks around the world,\u201d says his former teammate and friend Dwayne Bravo. \u00a0<\/span>\n\n\u201cWhen you get older you know your game a lot better, you understand the game more, you will take less risks in certain things. When you have all the experience in one room it will overshadow <\/span>youth<\/span><\/a>, because when you are young you may be fearless but you make a lot of mistakes. The older you are, you are more calculated,\u201d says Bravo.<\/span>\n\nAnd out of all these old warhorses, the wisest and most successful of them all is MS Dhoni. He\u2019s won it all \u2013 the World T20 in 2007, the Champions Trophy in 2013, and the big one, the World Cup, in 2011. After such a multitude of triumphs, is it possible to still hunger for more glory?<\/span>\n\n\u201cOnce you\u2019ve felt those huge highs of winning a World Cup, you want to experience it again and I guess once you get older towards the back end of your career, you probably appreciate those sort of feelings and experiences a lot more than when you are a youngster. I know MS. He would dearly love to finish his career with India, with a World Cup win. That would be a huge high to go out on,\u201d says Michael Hussey, a former <\/span>CSK<\/span><\/a> teammate of Dhoni\u2019s, and also someone who knows what longevity in the game truly requires.<\/span>\n\nFortune or foresight, 39-year-old Imran Khan had the vision to script something special and leave the sport on a World Cup high, at the right time. Years later, an equally astute 37-year-old MS Dhoni stands, not as a <\/span>skipper<\/span><\/a> but certainly as leader of his men, on the cusp of something equally historic.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does largest stage in world cricket have place for an aging legend, or is the gentleman\u2019s game the domain of young men at this elite level? The older players at the tournament keep fighting, for pride, for their dreams, and to prove the critics wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"featured_media":4819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[394],"tags":[3692,449,8444,8467,8201,1270,3102,1274,6436],"class_list":["post-4818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-chris-gayle","tag-cricket","tag-cwc19","tag-dwayne-bravo","tag-imran-tahir","tag-ms-dhoni","tag-south-africa","tag-world-cup","tag-world-t20"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Aging Legends Like Dhoni, Chris Gayle, Imran Tahir Make All the Difference in a World Cup<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Does largest stage in world cricket have place for an aging legend, or is the gentleman\u2019s game the domain of young men at this elite level? 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