A/N: There was so much going on and this man smiles and says "And I was considered a failed captain". And this podcast was shot during the worst IPL season of his life. He deserves the world man and we don't deserve him.
Sakshi Singh Dhoni unlike her husband was active on social media, scrolling through her instagram, she saw the new RCB podcast episode was out and it was of her ladla dewar. She excitedly went over to the couch her husband was sitting on mindlessly surfing channels on the TV.
"Look Mahi! The RCB podcast is out! It's Cheeku's!"
"Haa? Yaha de!"
Mahi bhai had been wanting to talk to his kiddo for a few days, and after the whole Sting Operation came out in the open, he wanted to get answers out of Virat, but he couldn't talk to either Virat or Ro, all his calls to the both of them had been going unanswered, Jammy bhai had told him to give the kids some time and they'd call him back soon.
"Ganguly didn't favor Rohit Sharma over Virat Kohli, they just disliked Kohli."
Those words kept ringing in Mahi bhai's mind, why didn't Virat tell him what was going on? Why did Ro and him decide it's best to keep him out of the loop? Those thoughts plagued him. But he shifted his entire attention onto the phone in his hand and clicked on the post. He watched the tension around Vi's shoulders, the dim light in his usually expressive eyes, god the last IPL season was a nightmare for his Cheeku, hopefully it'd be better this season. He smiled at how comfortable Danish Sait made Virat feel and how light the conversation was between them.
"Look you play to win tournaments, and a lot was made of it to be honest. We reached the finals of 2017 Champions Trophy, we reached the semis of the World Cup and finals of the Test Championship, and I was considered as a failed captain."
The sardonic smile on Virat's face and the tone of resigned acceptance felt like shrapnel to his heart, he never once ,in all the years he'd known his kid, had ever heard him sound like that. His eyes misted over thanking all his lucky stars he reached out to Vi after he stepped down from test captaincy. Sakshi felt herself getting emotional as well, she squeezed her husband's hand in silent support,
"Why would he think he was ever a failed captain Sakshi?"
"You know how he is Mahi....he shoulders all kinds of guilts, his guilt at not performing in two knockouts of 2 world cups, his guilt at not winning you a world cup...and everything with BCCI, it has affected him alot."
"But I don't hold it against him-"
"He knows that too, but it's Cheeku, blaming himself for things is his specialty. We'll call him again okay?"
They both resumed watching the video, smiled when he openly talked about Mahi bhai reaching out to him, talked about Nushkie and Vamika, Faf and more about his RCB team.
After they listened to the entire podcast, Mahi bhai again tried calling Ro and Vi but neither of them answered again, so he called Jammy bhai, who answered the call with a tired sigh,
"Yes Mahi?"
"Are they around?"
"No, they're off practicing, Virat's been pushing too hard, Ro's there making sure he doesn't over work himself."
"Tell them to call me back. Please Jammy bhai!"
"I'll tell them, Mahiya give them time, they've both been receiving a lot of calls, Virat's just not in that space where he can just talk about everything that happened over the past 3 years. It's not easy. Even I don't know the half of it, Ravi bhai knows everything. Look, the kids are calling me for practice, I'll call you later okay?" Without waiting for a response Jammy bhai hung up.
