MS Dhoni and the useless one shots I like to come up with

Crown Prince: Heir Unapparent (Part 1)

Just so you know the Wild Mahi Bhai oneshot DOES have a sequel but I am moody so I don't know when I will publish that. I wanted to publish thissss instead. SO I did. To those following Phoenix Tales, I have a chapter for that too, just have to clear it out.

And unrelated but I have a fresh ass idea for a completely fictional work involving the old team only. Fictional as in the events are fictional, the people are still cricketers. I really want to write that but my unfinished drafts are accusing me of being a fickle idiot. SO I don't know, should I form another draft, publish it only when I have cleared my previous ones, but work on it since the idea might go away?

Anyway. This oneshot, is more like a series of three? Not necessarily connected but you know around the same topic.

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"How did we miss it?" he asked his bestfriend, his partner in crime, Sourav, as they sat sprawled out on the floor, in the middle of their late night conversations. They had come back from dinner with their friends, where while discussing the future captain of the Indian Cricket Team, Sachin had brought up Mahi's name. It wasn't so much as a question of his ability that had surprised them, Mahi was very very able, everyone knew. It was just that he was very young in the international scene, he had yet to lose his candour infront of the media or anyone for that matter. And he was innocent in a way very few people of his age were. They hadn't thought about it until Sachin had brought it up and now they both couldn't stop thinking about it. They both had a bit of disbelief on their faces, as they wondered how could they have ever missed so many signs of leadership in their Mahi.

Rahul couldn't help but wonder how he had missed so many signs from the very beginning. He was more observant than that. Particularly the ones that had been staring him in the face but he hadn't been able to spot it. There were quite a few, but a couple of memories stood fresh in his memories to accentuate just how able MS Dhoni was as a leader even though he himself hadn't realised it.

The year was 2006, Mahi for all his fame and accomplishments, was still considered a newbie. This newer team of his, while missing several people he dearly wanted back, was filled with talented youngsters just rearing to go out and prove themselves. He regretted many things but the youngsters he had gotten, he could never regret them. Even if he was a bit lost on how to help them come out of their shells. So far he had started keeping his room door open, just so they approached him alone if they were too self conscious to do so infront of the rest. He made sure to give them all as much individual attention as he could. It had helped them to a good extent, as far as the playing was concerned. But on a personal level, they were still to awed by their surroundings, by him, to open up to him. He would hear rambuctious laughter around the corner, normal of boys their age, but as soon as he turned the corner, it would disappear.

He couldn't help but huff at the parallels he and Sourav managed to draw. Sourav somehow had found boys who didn't hesitate from the first meeting itself, much like the man himself. While he, Rahul, had found a group as painfully polite as him. It didn't help that the others in the team, upset over all that had happened, all that he had done, didn't make their usual attempts to break ice. If anything, their resting expression in the team room was stormy, courtesy of the presence of the greatest douchebag India had ever been graced by- Greg Chappell. He couldn't very well tell them to now change their expressions cuz they were scaring their juniors. Well he could, technically, but none of them had looked him in they eye since Sourav had gone.

None, except Mahi that is. Mahi had been incredibly confused at his explanation of the politics that went behind Sourav's exclusion, and he had been incredibly understanding when Rahul had spiralled into a rant about how nobody believed him that he genuinely did not orchestrate any of this, he did not kick his bestfriend out. He fucked up yes, especially when he messed up the team combination so Sourav wouldn't be forced to open, be forced in an unfamiliar role to prove himself. Not only had the selectors failed to see Sourav's 40 odd runs as a returning form, but he had also not appreciated what he saw as condescending behavior. Which was another misunderstanding, he had failed to clear. Mahi hadn't needed to sit through his spiral, but he had, being his wonderful strange self.