Peak end rule.
In the 2011 Cricket World Cup final, India was chasing 277. Gautam Gambhir scored 97 but got himself out needlessly. MS Dhoni scored 91, but stayed till the end and finished the match in style with a big 6! We all remember that shot don’t we?
Cut to July 2019 World Cup semifinal Ind vs NZ.
Here is the state of affairs before Dhoni enters the scene. India lost its fifth wicket of Rishabh Pant and stood at 71 runs in 23 overs, chasing over 250 runs which is close to 175 runs. Dhoni takes over from here with Pandya, but soon Pandya also goes out in the 30th over and India stands at 92 for six, only adding twenty more runs to the scoreboard and India needing more than 150 runs in only twenty overs with only two batsmen left, and a bunch of Indian bowlers ready to fall like dominoes.
With Ravindra Jadeja, Dhoni puts up a partnership of more than 100+ runs without losing the seventh wicket, in what one can describe as the most epic struggle at seven down. India lost its seventh wicket at 208 runs in the 47th over. They protected the wicket and chased the target. At this point, India needed only 32 runs from 14 balls, which is an achievable target, and Dhoni has chased such targets multiple times in the past. But as fate would have it, Dhoni was run out.
Cut to May 2023 IPL final CSK vs GT.
Mohit Sharma to Dhoni, out! caught by Miller!! What a twist, a twist almost nobody wanted. This was full-on off, Dhoni drives it straight into the hands of Miller at extra cover. It isn’t going to be a ‘finishes off in style’ ending.
This consolidated into a huge disappointment. The expectations were huge, and they all believed Dhoni would be their savior. Dhoni would deliver another win against all odds, was the expectation and when that expectation was not met, people were in tears.
Enter Ravindra Jadeja. 10 needed from 2 balls.
The penultimate delivery landed close to the left-hander’s hitting arc and he smashed it over the bowler’s head. Flat as a tank, and bringing the crowd to life.
A ball later, he had the smarts to stay still and capitalize on a rare Mohit error in line, helping the ball past short fine leg, and sealing a fifth IPL title for CSK.
As soon as the ball hit the fence, Jadeja was tearing off on his celebratory run.
Dhoni, for once, was overcome by the emotion of it all. In a game where he had promoted himself to get the job done, he had failed. It could yet be his final T20 appearance, and you could almost feel that Dhoni felt he had let his side down.
Asked to recall the 2011 match, most of us would say how India was in trouble and the captain walked in calm and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. That’s the narrative in the minds of several people that watched that match. That is also the mind’s narrative based on the peak and the end. We remember India being in trouble and remember Dhoni finishing off in style.
When you remember Dhoni, you will remember the time when he delivered the World Cup to India in 2011, and that he failed to deliver the world cup, by losing to New Zealand, and now your pain would be multiplied as you can visualize the contrast, between the two experiences!
We almost experienced the pain of 2019 when Dhoni walked out for a duck.
On Monday, one of his most trusted lieutenants Jadeja bailed him out. If anything, Dhoni could have been pleased more than most, not just because Jadeja finished things off in style, but also because of how he has now become the cricketer Dhoni thought he would always become.
PEAK END RULE
You only remember the best and the last moments of an experience, while ignoring the rest.
This is why we fans are desperately waiting to see Dhoni exit on a high note.
The ill-effects of this is that when a player takes a random decision and it somehow produces great results just by sheer accident, then people start praising that one-hit-wonder as a superstar, only to realize that all his subsequent effort will become duds.
History will repeat & superstars will be replaced.
The victory of the 2011 world cup & now the 2023 IPL final —will stay with fans forever.
