No one would expect a shy 10-year-old boy from Malaya to have as his hero, India's captain M S Dhoni. Most boys his age would tell you that it would be Sachin Tendulkar.
No one would expect a shy 10-year-old boy from Malaya to have as his hero, India's captain M S Dhoni. Most boys his age would tell you that it would be Sachin Tendulkar.
Not Xavier Thurapah, from Kuala Lumpur, whose Indian roots explains his preference. He is here with his grandfather and as would be expected of a young lad with an eye for cool, calm talent, Dhoni tops young Xavier's poll of favourites.
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A studious, yet pragmatic wicketkeeper-batsman whose role since taking over from Anil Kumble is often overlooked amid the Team India name branding.
Dhoni, of course, knows all too well the hard facts of cricket life and that is, he is the teacher as well as the guiding light in a team now bereft of the old fab four; instead there is the trio of inexperience to guide through a rites of passage as India, having reached the final for the second consecutive Asia Cup, now need to live down the defeat two years ago in Lahore. While Sri Lanka did their fitness exercises yesterday in the swimming pool, India also had a quite day. Dhoni though admitted that being a final was always going to be an important outing for the squad, who have already lost Virender Sehwag to a hamstring problem.u00a0
As Dhoni pointed out, a final is a one-off and always important. India would love to take the crown again as the last time was in 1995, since then Sri Lanka have won it three times and Pakistan once. "We would like to win here and claim the title again. We need to put runs on the board though and show that we can do just that under pressure," said Dhoni.
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