All Talk and No Action

This also means that while he respects icons, he is not overly lyrical talking about them. For example, when speaking of Tendulkar, he is respectful but never over the top. Tokenism irritates him, even if he does not show it. Take, for instance, the India versus England match in Bangalore, which ended in a tie. Tendulkar had scored a masterly hundred. But the thrilling end and the controversial UDRS in favour of England’s Ian Bell had pushed it to the background. This reflected in the post-match press conference. At the fag end, however, when the intensity was gone and everyone had started to gather their belongings, a journalist asked Dhoni in Hindi if he wanted to say something about Tendulkar’s contribution. It was a token question and not critical in the context of the day’s events. So Dhoni begged off with a smile, saying, “Bees saal se bol rahe hain, sir (Been saying it for 20 years).”

He is put off by extremes of the Indian media and their fetish for negativity. The last straw, apparently, was the story a leading newspaper ran of a rift between him and Virender Sehwag during the 2009 World T20. Now Dhoni fulfils his duty towards the press but not more. There was a time when the player of the match would be sent for the press conference. Now, most times, only Dhoni shows up. He wants to guard his players from the media. At the World Cup, journalists complained about this to him. His reply suggested that had it not been for ICC rules, he wouldn’t even do this much.