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Journalism of Courage
WITH India just a heartbeat away from winning the one-day series against England, a poster popped up in the eastern stand of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in football city Kochi. It8217;s Arnold Schwarzenegger in black commando gear8212;complete with guns, grenades and straining biceps. Or is it? The camera swings back, it8217;s that famous Hollywood poster alright, but the face8230; it8217;s Mahendra Singh Dhoni!
General Pervez Musharraf likes his style, Indian ad agencies can8217;t get enough of him, hair-dressers from Kolkata to Kovalam swear by his mane, cricket crowds go berserk when he walks in to bat and hell, there8217;s even a website dedicated to him8212;dhoniXpress.com.
A stunned David Gower finally had to spell it out last week. 8216;8216;Dhoni,8217;8217; declared the English cricket legend, 8216;8216;is a superstar.8217;8217;
Superstar? At 24, and in just one and-a-half years, 9 Tests and 39 one-day matches? The answer, of course, is not in the arithmetic, but in the chemistry. It8217;s not just the exploits, it8217;s the temperament, the ability to soak up pressure with a smile and, of course, the devil-may-care way 8220;Mahi8221; plays his cricket.
Yes, he wins matches too. Rather, he finishes them, like nobody else has before him.
India has had its cricket gods8212;a pantheon of them, from C K Nayudu down to Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Yet, the aura that surrounds Dhoni is of an entirely different dimension8212;the long hair, the 1-litre-milk every day, the swagger, the style there have been no reports yet on demands for a Gavaskar haircut or a Dravid look.
To know what it feels like, ask the original keeper-dasher Farokh Engineer see box, or even the vintage blaster Sandeep Patil. And to understand Dhoni8217;s cult status in India today, consider these:
raquo; On Friday, India broke the world record 1984-85 held by Clive Lloyd8217;s West Indian side by winning its last 16 ODI run-chases. Dhoni has played a lead role in finishing six of them virtually single-handed
raquo; He has already hit 41 sixes and 105 fours from 39 games
raquo; Dhoni has finished the match with a six three times8212;already, an Indian record
raquo; Dhoni is the fastest wicket-keeper to reach the 1,000-run mark in ODIs
raquo; His 183 vs Sri Lanka in Jaipur is the highest scored by a keeper, beating his hero Adam Gilchrist8217;s 171
raquo; And, at the 39 ODI mark, Dhoni has a better average 52.78 and strike rate 106.11 than Gilchrist 34.39 038; 85.66 and even Vivian Richards 52.13 038; 82.74 in the same number of games.
8220;It8217;s all come overnight. The cameras used to pass by me; now they8217;re stopping for me,8221; Dhoni had candidly told an interviewer last year. He would not have expected his world to change so fast after that traumatic first-ball runout on debut in distant Chittagong on December 23, 2004.
As Sandeep Patil puts it: 8216;8216;When you are always in the news, people naturally start following you. And that8217;s when endorsements and movies happen.8217;8217;
The movie offers are sure to follow but, according to market sources, Dhoni is already worth nearly Rs 5 crore per year in the endorsement market from nine high-profile products8212;scooters to sandalwood-scented soaps.
Says his promoter Kolkata-based Jeet Banerjee, who signed up Dhoni after that whirlwind 148 from 123 balls 15 fours, 4 sixes against Pakistan in Visakhapatnam last year: 8216;8216;I saw the talent in him and that was the main reason for signing him.8217;8217; Many fours and sixes later, Banerjee says, 8216;8216;Dhoni hasn8217;t changed a bit. He remains the same simple guy he was when I met him first.8217;8217;
Patil says he understands the feeling as one walks out to bat with the crowd chanting 8216;we want sixer8217;. 8216;8216;There were always demands for big hits when I entered the field and that is something Dhoni must be used to by now.8217;8217; But the former India coach insists that Dhoni isn8217;t just about big shots. 8216;8216;When the situation has demanded he has kept his cool too,8217;8217; says Patil.
Says Dilip Vengsarkar, another India legend: 8216;8216;Basically this is an era where action is very important. The aam janta always love someone who hits four and sixes. Everybody wants to see quick results. And that8217;s the reason behind Dhoni8217;s popularity.8217;8217;
The star himself is reluctant to comment on his celebrity status, but ask him about style and he8217;s quick to respond with a smile that it8217;s all about speed. 8216;8216;I just love speed. I love fast scoring, I love to ride my bike fast, and I love fighter planes. I don8217;t know when the obsession with speed came in, but it has been there for a long, long time.8217;8217;
SPEED, glamour, fame, money. But that8217;s just one side of the Dhoni story. The other is being played out in Jharkhand8217;s Ranchi where a retired Class IV PSU employee is struggling to come to terms with a life that8217;s been turned on its head by his son.
Till a few months ago, Dhoni8217;s father, Pan Singh, was comfortable within familiar walls, plastered with Tendulkar posters, of his
two-room quarters in Shyamali Colony. Water hose in hand, Singh these days is busy working in the garden of a centrally air-conditioned bungalow in the same colony, a stone8217;s throw away. On call, says the father, are a Scorpio, a Pajero and four motorbikes, including a 2500 CC Yamaha model.
The bungalow has been given to the family 8216;8216;on subsidised rent8217;8217; by Pan Singh8217;s former employers MECONS Ltd, a SAIL subsidiary. 8216;8216;We are planning to build a bungalow of our own on the 5,000 sq yds gifted to Mahi by the state government,8217;8217; says Singh, 8216;8216;If God wills.8217;8217;
Singh then turns to wife Devki, asks her to switch on the TV8212;it8217;s the Kochi match versus England. 8216;8216;There8217;s still five more minutes to go. India will win, don8217;t worry,8217;8217; beams the mother. Singh turns back to the sunflower garden he has painstakingly set up. 8216;8216;The water supply will stop soon, I have to water them now,8217;8217; he mumbles, shuffling away.
Clearly, the family, including Dhoni8217;s elder brother Narendra and sister Jayanti, is yet to digest the move from N-171 to E-25. They realise it8217;s much more than just a change of addresses. In fact, Singh and Devki rarely venture out these days, they don8217;t want to talk about their son either. 8216;8216;What8217;s there to write? So much has already been written about Mahi,8217;8217; asks Devki. She would rather walk away to the kitchen and check what8217;s cooking for lunch.
Singh sports an embarrassed smile before recalling the tremendous sacrifices that went into making Dhoni a cricketer8212;the clothes, the kit, the travel money. But now, those close to the family say Dhoni8217;s affairs are managed by his sister and brother-in-law8212;brother Narendra is based in Lowdi village of Uttaranchal8217;s Almora district, where the Dhonis hail from.
The parents, meanwhile, have enough to keep themselves busy. 8216;8216;We have been receiving so many marriage proposals. But we are not in a hurry. After all, what is his age?8217;8217; asks Singh, as he walks in to watch the game.
THE rise of the Dhonis, say neighbours and family friends, has the whole town in awe. Recalls Suresh Singh, a former neighbour, pointing to the old Dhoni residence: 8216;8216;Till last year, they were here, with just a cycle to move about. Now he has become a crorepati. I can8217;t believe what has happened.8217;8217;
At the DAV school nearby, every Dhoni stroke is a reason to smile8212;after all, he is the star student. 8216;8216;Apart from doing well in cricket, he always scored above 60 per cent marks in English and other subjects,8217;8217; declares Ashok Kumar, who taught Dhoni. 8216;8216;Even then, we had noticed that he has great reflexes and hand-eye co-ordination,8217;8217; adds Kumar.
At the school, the Dhoni legend8212;from school team to state cricket, East Zone, India A and Team India8212;builds up, story by story. Of how he was their star goalie till the cricket team asked him to stand in for their absent wicket-keeper, how he let go just four byes in his first match, how his career started barely seven years ago, how he first met his idol Sachin Tendulkar at a dinner party for the team in Bangladesh and was too shy to walk up and introduce himself.
8216;8216;Even when he represented the school, he was a hard hitter. So much so that he used to break four or five bats every month,8217;8217; recalls Shashi Kant Pathak, a close friend.
Says another Ranchi friend, Simant Lohani, flaunting a copycat hair-do: 8216;8216;If you want to know what kind of stuff our friend is made of, please check dhoniXpress.com.8217;8217;
The website, probably, is the ultimate symbol of Dhoni8217;s arrival. Started by unidentified fans, it has photographs of the star in different poses, statistics, a profile and news updates. Once, a besotted fan even put up a marriage invitation card with Dhoni8217;s photo next to hers. 8216;8216;He will soon be Sachin Tendulkar,8217;8217; the site declares.
8216;8216;The last time we met him, he told us that he had set his eyes on on the World Cup. With a confident hitter like him in the team, we know India will bag the World Cup,8217;8217; says friend Pathak.
Dhoni superstar? Well, you decide.
8212; With inputs from Micky Aigner and Shivani Naik
8216;I know what it takes to play like Dhoni does8217;
India8217;s original Brylcreem man, keeper-batsman Farokh Engineer, relives that heady feeling
THE way Dhoni bats, he reminds me of myself. I had a very aggressive style of batting and the crowds always turned up to see my big shots. Pressure was certainly there since they wanted those bloody 4s and 6s all the time. That was tough since even the best of batsmen get out to low scores.
These are times when people who egg you on turn their back on you. But I don8217;t blame them for having such high expectations, that is the kind of reputation I made for myself and I had to stick to it. One lived by the sword and died by the sword.
It was my overall persona that helped me touch the chord of the cricket fans. I treated the big matches as a Saturday afternoon game. If things were dull on the field, I would nudge the rival batsman out of the crease.
My wicket-keeping too was adventurous and the crowds loved it. It was something that was new to Indian cricket. I took over from Naren Tamanhe, someone who was a safe keeper and who rarely went for the slip catches. I would go for a catch even in the fourth slip and mind you I caught most of them. People loved me for all these.
Even now, at 68, kids come to me for autographs. I ask them 8220;Hey, why do you want my autograph, you never saw me play8221;. But they tell me how their fathers and grandfathers, who have seen me play, would talk about me.
Popularity eventually sees one getting endorsements. At one stage of my career, I had about six of them. Brylcreem, talcum powder and Band Aid, there was a scooter8230; even a bicycle, I can8217;t remember all of them.
Other than the batting style those 8216;hero8217; looks also helps. The girls are very impressed by these things. But Dhoni should take care of one thing, he shouldn8217;t let the popularity go to his head. But from what I have known about him I think he is a very sensible young man. Since I know what it takes to play like the way he does, I really want him to succeed.
8212;As told to Sandeep Dwivedi
8216;I know what it takes to play like Dhoni does8217;
India8217;s original Brylcreem man, keeper-batsman Farokh Engineer, relives that heady feeling
THE way Dhoni bats, he reminds me of myself. I had a very aggressive style of batting and the crowds always turned up to see my big shots. Pressure was certainly there since they wanted those bloody 4s and 6s all the time. That was tough since even the best of batsmen get out to low scores.
These are times when people who egg you on turn their back on you. But I don8217;t blame them for having such high expectations, that is the kind of reputation I made for myself and I had to stick to it. One lived by the sword and died by the sword.
It was my overall persona that helped me touch the chord of the cricket fans. I treated the big matches as a Saturday afternoon game. If things were dull on the field, I would nudge the rival batsman out of the crease.
My wicket-keeping too was adventurous and the crowds loved it. It was something that was new to Indian cricket. I took over from Naren Tamanhe, someone who was a safe keeper and who rarely went for the slip catches. I would go for a catch even in the fourth slip and mind you I caught most of them. People loved me for all these.
Even now, at 68, kids come to me for autographs. I ask them 8220;Hey, why do you want my autograph, you never saw me play8221;. But they tell me how their fathers and grandfathers, who have seen me play, would talk about me.
Popularity eventually sees one getting endorsements. At one stage of my career, I had about six of them. Brylcreem, talcum powder and Band Aid, there was a scooter8230; even a bicycle, I can8217;t remember all of them.
Other than the batting style those 8216;hero8217; looks also helps. The girls are very impressed by these things. But Dhoni should take care of one thing, he shouldn8217;t let the popularity go to his head. But from what I have known about him I think he is a very sensible young man. Since I know what it takes to play like the way he does, I really want him to succeed.
8212;As told to Sandeep Dwivedi
