Daniel Vettori, back from the burnout

"It started with a text from Brendon [McCullum]", said Daniel Vettori after he was called up for the third and final Test against Pakistan in Sharjah last November. 0-1 down in the series, the New Zealand think-tank had a look at the pitch and went against the beaten route, going for a third spinner in Daniel Vettori. After two and a half years in the wilderness, Vettori happened to be in the UAE with the New Zealand A team.

What followed was a fairytale. After leading the team out onto the field in the first morning of the match, the veteran not only lead his team onto the field in the first morning of the match, he sparkled with the ball teasing Pakistan with his guile. Mark Craig was the wrecker-in-chief, and New Zealand went onto win the game by an innings and 80 runs, handing Vettori a happy farewell. The team had, ironically, grown so much in his absence; this was the belated reward of shared success.

Vettori had taken up a coaching position with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, and had made sporadic appearances in the Big Bash League. There was continued silence on the possibility of an international return.

It was difficult to reconcile this image of him: bearded and ambling around as opposed to youthful teenager, who burst onto international cricket. Back in 1996-97, when New Zealand were in a rebuilding phase, he was drafted in as an 18-year-old with only two first-class caps to his name. In the years of recovery that followed, Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori went onto become key cogs in the team.

Vettori was consistent with the ball and often provided useful support lower down the order.. But the stress fractures he suffered in the 2001 season would have long-term effects; his bowling action was altered, and his ability to turn the ball waned. He earned the respect of the opposition but could not run through the batting even on helpful pitches. Many a New Zealand win would slip through the fingers as a result.

He had also taken up captaincy, a four-year period of frustration for the New Zealand supporters. Vettori was a defensive captain, who waited for things to happen. He was never really adventurous and aggressive like Fleming or Brendon McCullum. Vettori's captaincy was defensive, so much so that New Zealand suffered a whitewash at the hands of Bangladesh .

If taking over a side in transition, following the departures of Fleming, Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan was hard enough; dealing with the loss Shane Bond, and the repeated injuries to Jacob Oram, was a bridge too far. Add to this the inconsistency of Ross Taylor, and it's perhaps no surprise that Vettori's captaincy stint turned out the way it did. However, his contribution in pulling New Zealand out of a hole deserves credit. . Interestingly, the shortcomings of his team-mates lifted Vettori individual game to a higher plane, as he became New Zealand's most reliable player. Then he took everything upon himself with some senior players claiming he took over coaching when Andy Moles quit in 2009.

Such a heavy burden, eventually forced him to slow down. The burnout was inevitable, and after the 2011 World Cup Vettori retired from Twenty T20s in 2011 and slowly drifted out of Tests. In the meantime, New Zealand made good progress and unearthed match-winners in Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Kane Williamson.

His comeback in Sharjah provided us with a brief glimpse of what might have been, had he stuck around. The Test helped Vettori return to the New Zealand ODI team and he was picked for the World Cup. In Auckland Australia had got off to a fast start, taking advantage of short boundaries, but Vettori picked up the wickets of Shane Watson and Steven Smith and built up pressure, from which Trent Boult prospered. This was the good old Daniel Vettori.

A World Cup win could be the prefect farewell gift for Daniel Vettori, much like how it was for Glenn McGrath in 2007 and Sachin Tendulkar in 2011.