What Dhoni's 10-second pause in the 2011 CWC final taught me about Steem

MS Dhoni at Adelaide Oval, 2008. Photo by Blnguyen / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Last night I rewatched the 2011 World Cup final again. Not because of the six, but because of those 10 seconds before it. Dhoni just stood there, bat resting on his shoulder, eyes calm. The whole stadium was screaming, pressure was insane, but he looked like he had all the time in the world. In those 10 seconds he was recalculating everything.. the field, the bowler, the score, the moment. Then he just swung.

That pause stuck in my head.

Today I was scrolling Steem and suddenly it hit me: the best posts here don't always blow up from one massive whale vote. They grow slowly, from many small, thoughtful votes that come at the right time. It's not one big splash, it's many quiet ripples that eventually make the post float.

It's the same Dhoni thing.

The really good curators on Steem seem to have that pause. They don't rush to vote on every shiny new post. They wait, they read, they think. They leave the wide balls alone and only play the good ones.

Some small observations I made:

• The patient filter: they scroll past posts that feel forced or rushed, waiting for something real.

• The ripple effect: real momentum is often silent.. a few early smart votes, then slowly more people notice and join.

• The calm click: when they finally vote, it looks effortless. But behind it was that quiet assessment.

I'm saying this with only 10 SP to my name. I came back to Steem last month after being away for years. I'm not some curation expert or big account. I'm just someone who loves cricket and loves seeing how things work on this platform. I'm connecting dots that feel interesting to me.

I want to know if this makes sense to others too.

So, tell me..

• Cricket fans : have you ever seen a player's 'pause' completely change a game?

• Steem users : do you see this 'ripple effect' in how posts grow here? What makes you decide it's time to add your vote?

I'll be reading every response down below.

Let's talk about it. Maybe together we can figure out the real playbook.. for the pitch and for the chain.

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✅ Image Source – Photo by Blnguyen / CC BY-SA 3.0