For those of us who were blessed to watch him play the game, ‘Captain Cool’ will be also remembered for his approach to the game, his composure under adversity, his unruffled stillness – in short, as much for his attitude as his achievements.

To cadge the title of the epic fantasy novel series, Dhoni was A Song of Ice and Fire, the two elements melded in his game in the most attractive and engrossing manner. Look closely, and the seeming detachment in his eyes was washed with a smouldering glow. Look closer, and the shimmering passion in his body language was suffused with a quiet and focussed serenity.

It was this combination of Fire and Ice that saw him notch up a career record that marks him out as an all-time great and a wicketkeeper-batsman who made such a stellar contribution to India. It was under his captainship that India won all three ICC trophies, the Cricket World Cup, the World T20 and the Asia Cups. Dhoni had a special flair for the shorter form of the game, one that requires a mix of steely nerves and flashes of reflexive aggression – the very combination of ice and fire that seemed a part of his DNA.

Two former England captains, Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan described him as the greatest white-ball skipper in the history of the game, an assessment that few will dispute. His record as a captain in Test match cricket is not to be scoffed at either, but it was the shorter form where he truly came into his own. It was perhaps no accident that his retirement from cricket came in stages – going from Test to one-day, and finally to T20, and therefore all forms of the game.

A large number of Indians, whether in sports, politics, or business, are prone to cling to their professions, well after their use-by date. It is a credit to Dhoni that his retirement from different forms of cricket has left us, to use the cliché, asking, ‘why?’ rather than ‘why not?’. The only spot of regret, one that will be felt by legions of his fans, is that it would have been fitting had he gone out on a happier note.

His last international match was the 2019 World Cup semi-final, which India lost narrowly to New Zealand. The match was lost when a throw from the outfield caught Dhoni inches from the crease. Even so, it will be remembered more for Dhoni’s heroics than for anything else, as it was his doggedness and his self-confidence that brought India within a sniffing distance of winning before his run-out.

He broke a string of records during his 16-year career, scoring almost 5,000 runs in Test cricket and more than double this in one-day internationals. There may have been better wicketkeepers, but Dhoni’s record of 444 dismissals is the highest in India and among the highest in the world. But statistics are only one side of the Dhoni story. It was the way he has conducted himself on and off-field that has fashioned his iconic image. As he hangs up his gloves, India must join together to salute and honour this hero.