Anil didn't really know his deputy. When anyone said the name Mahendra Singh Dhoni infront of him, there were a few images that arose in his mind. The mad grin with which he had entered the dressing room right after hitting his maiden test century, declaring he was ready to retire now. The bright eyed interest towards Anil's cameras, a rare sight in a group who generally started rolling their eyes whenever Anil started ranting about their sheer disrespect towards the art of photography. The shy smile in their few interactions.
Neither was Anil an extrovert nor MS; who bordered on painfully shy at times. He knew some things about the boy alright- he knew there was an obvious strength to his character, a courage that was something more than the usual heart of their boys, he knew that the kid was inherently good as a person or atleast thats what the way the trinity raved about him told him and he knew that the kid had a solid head on his shoulders, feet firmly planted on the ground. He knew his friends were just about ready to die for the boy at any given point of time.
But these were all just throwaway facts. He had no idea who Mahendra Singh Dhoni was and now he had all but unofficially declared as the person responsible for making sure that the crown of leadership rested easily on the kid's head. While MS was a marvelous captain on field, there was a mutual agreement amongst the seniors, that MS was just a touch too innocent and unpolitical to be left at the doorsteps of BCCI alone. And it was to him, the job had fallen, to guide and protect the future of the Indian Cricket Team, in the right direction. He had no idea what to expect of or for either of them.
He sighed and leaned back in the armchair, stretching his long legs as far as they can without hitting the table, head lolling back as he waited for the subject of his thoughts to make his appearance.
He was waiting in the lounges of a hotel in Mumbai, they had to go to a couple of meetings at the BCCI headquarters in an hour's time and MS had not arrived yet. Anil was all about strategy, it was what constructed his bowling arsenal since the amount of spin he usually generated wouldn't even rotate a toy fan. His strategy was quite simple for these new roles he had been unceremoniously dumped with, courtesy of one unrepentent Rahul Dravid, he was going to set a good example of everything he had control of as a captain, teach MS the basics of how to deal with BCCI (it required exceptional self control to not raze those assholes to the ground at times), and he was going to first get to know the kid he was now the mentor of before making any further plans.
He had planned for them to both go together so he could brief the kid on what it was about but it was starting to look more likely that he would have to go alone. What was the hold up about? MS tended to be one of the punctual ones. Just as he made up his mind to just leave for the meeting, he heard a shout from behind him.
