My Hero - A PANT-MSD FIC

Pant's Regret

Pant's regret.

IPL season was going on, DC vs CSK. Pant was behind the wicket, after his two brilliant stumpings Chennai was 4 down, Raina and Dhoni were on the crease. "Buddhon game nahi ye" Pant took a jibe on Dhoni from behind the stumps. Considering it to be just calculated sledging, Dhoni just calmly smiled, the kid was learning after all, all the better for India, even he knew his days were numbered now. Dhoni hooked the next ball for a brilliant six. Pant was continiously chit chatting from behind the stumps, mostly pinching him about his age. Dhoni kept his calm, but Raina was losing his temper, one loose shot and they lost his wicket. Dhoni went on to play really calculated brilliant innings but DC won the match, due to Pant's hard knock. As the losing team left the ground and congratulated the winning team, Dhoni hugged Pant "Well done, my boy, well done. Kya keeping ki hai aaj tune, wo do stumping brilliant, batting was great too. Bas world cup mein bhi na India ke lie aise hi khelna hai." he said. Rishabh detatched himself from the hug with a slight push. "Thanks." he said "Ab aap ki retire karne ki age ho rahi hai, kisiko toh keeping karni hi paregi. Your days are numbered." There was something condescending in his tone, that made this seemingly innocent statement demeaning. Dhoni looked at him in surprise. His teammates were celebrating the win, and calling him. "Sorry MS, gotta leave" Rishabh said and walked away. Did he just call me MS Dhoni thought, thats something his seniors used to call him, nobody does that now in the team, it is mostly, Dhoni bhai or Mahi Bhai now, even Virat. Dhoni loved seeing younger players grow over time and he helped them in evry way possible, he knew that support from seniors meant a lot cuz he had recieved it in his earlier days, Dada had saved him from bieng dropped, time and again, he and Sachin had reccommended him for captaincy. And now when he was one of the senior most in the team, he enjoyed mentoring the younger guys. He helped Virat with his captaincy, now and again, he knew Virat appreciated that, he did it quite openly. He also enjoyed mentoring Pant, that guy had a lot of potential, and he was generally such a nice guy. But his tone and actions today was so arrogant. Dhoni did not think about it much, it was not in his nature to think about things that weren't in his control.

The next match of CSK vs DC, DC won again. Pant was brilliant with his bat even this time, but Dhoni had gotten out for a duck. But Pant's keeping was a little weak this time. He missed some catches here and there, and missed a really basic stumping. Dhoni congratulated him this time too. "You are a great player, bas concentration banaye rakh toh aur bhi achha karega, India ke liye bhi aise hi khelna hai, keeping pe thora sa aur mehnat kar, let the IPL be over we can work on it together." he said. "Arey, aap aram karo, keeping meri thik karlunga main, aap apna game dekho, World cup aa rha hai, its your last world cup after all. Bura kheloge, aur sab ko wahi yaad rahega." Pant said, "Atleast mera bat ke saath form toh achha hai, and i will deal with my keeping. Ap chinta mat karo" He walked away. His tone made it clear that he didn't need any help. That night in the hotel over dinner, Dhoni heard Shreyash and Rishabh talking, "Rishabh yaar tu Dhoni bhai se kaise baat kar raha thha?" Shreyash said in a low tone. "Kaise matlab kya? Isse achhe se main usse baat nahi kar sakta." Rishabh said "I didnt say anything rude, waise bhi retirement ki umar ho gayi hai, and he even isnt the captain." "Dude, dhire bol, what will he think if he hears us" Shreyas said "Even you know how good he is behind the stumps, he is offering to help you, you are lucky man. He is like one of the finest cricketing brains ever, you are a regular in the team now, you should know how much he helps out Virat sir too." "Sun, I cannot be his chamcha like everyone else, aur sunne de na, atleast he will get the hint he should retire soon." Rishabh said. Dhoni heard it all, he willed himself not to react, he had mastered keeping a straight face over time. He finished his food and left. He had tremendous control over his emotions, and that helped him calm down. He really liked Pant from the day they met, a talented dreamy eyed young guy, who stuttered out that Dhoni was his hero on the first meeting. And after he became a regular in the team, Dhoni had helped him with his keeping again and again. Boosted his moral when he was down, talked to him when he was disturbed. He had been a receptive young guy, when did he become so arrogant. Dhoni just made a mental note to be formal with him. It had hurt him, hurt him a lot but it was not his nature to let that hurt lead his actions.

IPL was over now, CSK had won this time too, the final was between CSK and KKR, MI and DC got eliminated in the Semi finals. They lost to CSK. Dhoni just shaked his hand firmly, he did not say any thing. He had still taken a jibe at Dhoni just to make himself feel better. Since then somethimg had been nagging him, he didn't quite know what though. He was leaving for the world cup camp tomorrow, he was packing and re arranging his cupbourd, when something fell out of it. It was a old scrap book, its cover page read, MSD - MY HERO, and there was a paper cutting of Dhoni with the world cup. He had assembled that scrap book with utmost care in his younger days. It had paper cuttings, facts and articles about Dhoni. He sat there flipping through the book and remembering how he had behaved during the IPL. How had he behaved like that with his hero, someone who offered to help him. He should appologise, say he was sorry, but how, he didn't know how. He just stuffed the book in his bag, and left for the camp next day.

The camp was in bangalore, everyone was prepping for practice session. Dhoni was sitting right across Pant, Pant kept on glancing up at him. The day of practice went on smoothly, only Virat noticed that Pant was a little tensed around Dhoni, Dhoni was relaxed and proffessional, a bit too formal than he had seen Dhoni around Pant. Pant felt it too, he had become "Pant, tum" from "Rishabh tu", he still gave him little advices but the tone was of co player, the older brother tone that Dhoni used for him earlier was lost. "Mahi bhai, Rishabh ne kuch raita phailaya hai kya?" Virat asked jokingly "Chal kya raha hai?" "Kuchh nahi Cheeku" Dhoni said "Chhor na" Virat let it go, he believed in MS, he will sort things out. The next day as they were prepping, Rishabh summed up the courage and went to Dhoni. "Aap se kuchh bat karni thi" He said. "Pant bolo, kya bat hai" Dhoni said "Would you like to go on the net first." "Nahi Mahi bhai, wo aap pls mujhe thora help karoge with my keeping, it wasnt in its best shape in ipl" He managed slowly. "Arey, meri umar ho gayi hai" Dhoni said standing up "You are so much better. I am sure you will manage. But still if you want I will help you." "Mahi bhai" Rishabh said bowing his head "I am sorry bhai" he almost whispered the last words. "Arey khus fusa kyun raha hai" Dhoni said "Say what you are saying loudly, jab senior players kab retire karna chahiye yeh bolta hai, tab to dhire nahi bolta." Rishabh mentally kicked himself, Mahi bhai had heard that too, he made the descision almost impulsively and shouted "I AM SORRY, MAHI BHAI." getting the whole dressing rooms attention. "I am sorry, maine jo bhi kaha IPL time pe aap se, I behaved very rudely" He said now in a quiter voice, but loud enough for the whole dressing room to hear "I insulted you, aur main uske liye boht sharminda hu, I commented on your age and game, mera form achha chal raha thha aur usi ka guroor sar charh ke bol raha thha, I did not notice my keeping form was slipping aur jab apne bolne ki koushis ki toh maine apki insult ki. Aap meri madad kar rahe thhe and maine gadhe ki tarah react kiya. Aap mere hero hain, Mahi bhai. Pls meri iss galti ko nadani samajh ke maaf kardo. Sabke saamne I am begging you, pls maaf kar do. I will do whatever you say, but pls pls maaf kar do." he finished, his head bowed, and face red from the guilt and pressure. Dhoni smiled and patted his shoulder, "I forgive you." He said pulling him in a hug, and patting his head. Dhoni felt Pant shaking slightly in the hug, he was crying. He pulled back and made him sit on the bench and knelt in front of him. "Ro mat" he said wiping Pant's tears. "Ro mat, bachcha. Dekh your bieng rude to me wasnt the problem, your bieng arrogant was. Usse tu sikhna band kardega, tujhe lagne lagega tujhe sab ata hai. Isse teri hi game bigregi. I was just worried about you. I am glad you realised. Ab ro mat." But his tears wouldn't stop. Dhoni cupped his cheek, and tried to calm him. He stood up pulled him into another hug, Pant was still sitting, so in the hug his face was against Dhoni's chest. He cried in to his chest while Dhoni comforted him, feeling like a kid being comforted by his older brother. "You will always be my hero bhai, I am so sorry for what I have done." he said again and again. Eventually he calmed down, Dhoni released him from the hug and wiped his face." "Ja mu dhoke aa lets go and start the practice." he said ruffling Pant's hairs. "Ek minute Mahi bhai" he said. He ran to his locker and brought the scrap book. "Maine yeh boht mehnat se banaya tha, you are my hero, will you pls sign this." he asked almost nervously. "Of course champ" Dhoni said patting his back.

And he wrote, "Hope you are a even better servant of the game than I ever was, with love, Mahendra Singh Dhoni."