Mahendra Singh Dhoni during a press conference at Lord's Cricket Ground as captain of India ahead of the opening Test against England on July 20, 2011. Pic/AFP
In his medal-decorated career, Mahendra Singh Dhoni did what no captain could do — clinch the ICC T20 trophy in 2007, reach the pinnacle of one-day international cricket with the 2011 World Cup win and trigger a title triumph in the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Though Dhoni was unable to orchestrate an encore in any of the above triumphs, the trio of glory is a super heavyweight accomplishment in itself.
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Dhoni could do no wrong and he was firmly perched as an untouchable captain. His power was well-earned. When the selectors wanted to replace him as skipper after the disastrous Test series against Australia in 2011-12 [captain in three defeats before Virender Sehwag led in the fourth Test for which Dhoni was banned for an over-rate issue], the then BCCI president N Srinivasan stepped in and used his power to stop such a move. To be fair, it was well within Srinivasan's purview.
But then came what a lot of international captains/players have had to cope with once they achieved a certain degree of success — a foe in the form of the media. Never one to oblige the media with lengthy comments (and that is fine), where Dhoni took things to a new level was when he told the media during a commercial event last year that they shouldn't question him on his future till January.
If this isn't veiled arrogance and an indication of him being above board, then what is?
We have still to hear from him why he gave up the Test captaincy in the midst of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series during the Australian summer of 2014-15. And who can forget the press conference before the 2013 Champions Trophy where he refused to say a word about the spot-fixing scandal involving his Chennai Super Kings team. On IBN Newsroom Buzz, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai aptly called it "the press conference that never was."
Back to Dhoni's retirement. Although quitting is a personal choice, it sure seemed odd that he announced it on Instagram with the words "consider me as Retired." We all know Dhoni is different and is no slave of convention, but Instagram? Really? This is said with full credit to Dhoni's outstanding cricketing gifts, his contribution to Indian cricket and how greatly he inspired kids across the length and breadth of this country. Wouldn't writing out a statement have been a better way of going about things for a man of his stature and longevity in the game? It does seem that Dhoni goes out of his way to be different.
Doing press conferences, interviews and issuing statements are often wrongly viewed as favours done to the media. But in fact, these are vehicles to show that you are committed to the needs of cricket lovers who have helped your popularity in no small measure. Why should it always be viewed as making the media happy? Dhoni appears to be a non-believer in this particular responsibility (yes, I call it that). When you become an international player you have to cope with the fact that there will be the need to speak beyond the requisite press conferences. Dhoni's attitude towards the media is best illustrated by what he supposedly told the media manager of the Indian team for the 2015 World Cup: "If the media is happy with you, then you are not a good media manager." That this support staff member was viewed as bad in any case is another matter. Journalists who covered that event will tell you how they couldn't even stand on the opposite side of the road of the team hotel at some venues. And the Aussie security would not even allow anyone to visit the coffee shop even as the Australian team members were talking to the media at airports each time they arrived at a venue.
Talking of Australia, if Dhoni was an Australian player, a virtual media briefing would have been organised by Cricket Australia on August 15 itself. But that is too much to expect from the BCCI.
I've attended a few pre- and post-match media briefings addressed by Dhoni and the most unforgettable one would have to be from the time when he had not yet adorned the role of captaincy. In the build-up to the 2007 Lord's Test, the BCCI made a few players available to interact with the media. I sat in for the Dhoni one at the Nursery End of the fabled ground. "Call me Mahi," he told us before talking about his early days in the game; being coaxed into keeping wickets at school by his sports instructor after being a football goalkeeper. Dhoni spoke freely about his love for cars and super bikes. He admitted being thrilled to see so many convertibles on the streets of England.
To an English writer who asked him if he saw himself as a future Bollywood star, he said: "The only thing that I have to do is to play cricket. The day I stop playing, everything stops — whether it's the fan-following, endorsements...whatever." Ice cream in hand, he continued: "I think the food is amazing [here] and the desert is excellent. Look, I am enjoying my ice cream and after this discussion I am going back for some more."
It's a pity he had so few interactions such as this. For such an interesting man, Dhoni spoke so little.
mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper
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