Bend it like Dhoni

8216;8216;Before you come up with anything smart, Mukul,8217;8217; I stopped him short, 8216;8216;I want to know something about his coach. This chap would put Greg Chappell and the rest to shame.8217;8217;

8216;8216;In terms of what he has achieved, certainly,8217;8217; replied Mukul.

8216;8216;But that does not mean you go bang bang bang,8217;8217; I said. 8216;8216;It8217;s alright, the bat connects, but the way he moves his body, the way he handles his bat, the way he holds the bat8230;what do I tell Sasanth? His coaches have told him something totally different.8217;8217;

8216;8216;You see Dhoni8217;s coach never played cricket in his life,8217;8217; revealed Mukul. 8216;8216;Actually, he is a football coach.8217;8217;

I reeled.

8216;8216;The coach has told him to keep using the bat as his third leg and visualise the red cherry as a football,8217;8217; explained Mukul. 8216;8216;When the ball comes near him, he just kicks it with his bat.8217;8217;

8216;8216;No wonder the ball bends when he whacks it,8217;8217; I remarked.

8216;8216;The coach has told him to ape Beckham, watch his feet movement,8217;8217; Mukul continued.

8216;8216;Which is perhaps why he has grown long hair too,8217;8217; I said.

8216;8216;So, I8217;ll tell Sasanth to grow long hair, use the bat as his third leg, what else?8217;8217; I asked.

8216;8216;There is no such thing as a good length ball, the coach has taught him,8217;8217; disclosed Mukul. 8216;8216;All balls have to be smacked nice and hard. If Dhoni were playing football, he would probably be a goalie. Because after he takes possession, he hits the ball so hard, it flies to the opponent8217;s goalpost.8217;8217;

That goalie image helped because MSD can keep wickets too.

8216;8216;But he has to stop this tendency of immediately throwing the ball once he gathers it behind the stumps,8217;8217; explained Mukul. 8216;8216;The coach spent long hours telling him not to do that.8217;8217;

The other thing is how does Dhoni train for the bat to become his third leg. 8216;8216;It took several months,8217;8217; explained Mukul. 8216;8216;His coach had to tie his bat around his waist, then tie it around his right leg and make him walk for several hours.8217;8217;

Ouch. What a bore, I thought.

8216;8216;But the results are fantastic,8217;8217; claimed Mukul. 8216;8216;At one stage, Dhoni started believing he had three legs and he wanted three-legged trousers. The third leg was for his bat.8217;8217;

Wonder what Geoff Boycott would say to all this. The world number one in cricket is actually a goalie.

8216;8216;The coach said Boycott did ring him up several times and told him that Dhoni8217;s foot should not shoot up. MSD8217;s coach couldn8217;t catch the man8217;s Yorkshire twang, so he just told Geoff to 8216;shoot oop8217;.8217;8217;

8216;8216;All that8217;s fine but what do I tell Sasanth?8217;8217; I asked. 8216;8216;Surely I can8217;t tell him to learn football first to do a Dhoni?8217;8217;

Mukul had the clincher ready. 8216;8216;You know, the coach says Ganguly was a natural footballer. He and Leander kicked around together in Salt Lake, but the day he started playing copybook drives and strokes, he was out of the team.8217;8217;

My heart sank.