Anirudh Chaudhary,the Indian team manager on this tumultuous tour,has been quick to squash several bizarre rumours that have risen out of nowhere over the past one month. But the one on Wednesday Is it true that Dhoni is going to wear a black armband in support of Anna Hazare at The Oval? left even someone with his experience completely speechless. It took some time for Chaudhary to gather himself,but he soon crumpled the idea with force before it could gather more ground. At the press conference,MS Dhoni did the same. Lets stick to cricket, he replied,when posed with an Anna-related query on the eve of the fourth Test. In hindsight,Dhoni should have probably entertained himself and the media at The Oval with the out-of-context question,for once the focus shifted to the tour and the upcoming game on Dhonis plea,the grilling never stopped. Trailing 3-0 in the series and just one loss away from being pushed to No.3 in the Test rankings,Dhoni was soon dodging enquires on form and fitness. During nets,gingerly walking men in the Indian training gear did not let anyone forget that this was a squad of the walking wounded. Towards the end of the training session,RP Singh walked down the dressing room stairs,clipping his overgrown nails. Looking at the replacement bowlers casual walk,an old English fan quipped: This shows it hasnt been a nail-biting series. RP,who carries several embarrassing signs of his long hiatus from international cricket on his bulky frame,was now under the spotlight at the nets due to Praveen Kumars injury and S Sreesanths suspect health. Although Praveen and Sreesanth did roll their arms over at the nets,their workout was light. Praveen joked with teammates before heading back to the dressing room,while Sreesanth complained of a bad cold as he walked towards the team hotel. The spin and pace combination 3-1 or 2-2 will depend on the medical reports,and not the conditions or pitch behaviour in the past. Well after practice and until very late on Wednesday night,the management was busy assessing the Praveen injury,since his fitness would have a big impact on the constitution of the bowling attack. Question hour Fitness wasnt the thing that Dhoni was probed extensively about. The many reasons and formulae for Indias humiliation were turned into question form. Did you miss a left-arm pacer? Do you want more warm-up games in the future? Did the lack of a good opening partnership hamper the team? Who do you blame for the defeats? Do you feel let down? Dhoni probably would have found Tim Bresnans short ball easier to defend. But the Indian skipper used his old ploy to counter them. Banking on sporting cliches he shouldered arms to the really tough ones,before turning philosophical. If you only achieve success,then it becomes quite easy for you in life. Its the failures in life and the challenges that make it interesting, he replied,when asked if the series had changed his outlook. But after a point,Dhoni had had enough. Was this series a wake-up call? asked an English scribe. Pat came the reply: We are not really sleeping,so we dont need a wakeup call. Just a month back,Dhoni was the captain of the World No.1 side. Despite the fall,he still clearly isnt used to being pushed around.
