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Journalism of Courage
After the semi-final loss, Mahendra Singh Dhoni faced too many questions. His post-match press conference overshot the stipulated time. The Aussies were up next, they were made to wait. Michael Clarke and Steve Smith, bored of staring at the close door of the media room, walked in after a while. They stood with the reporters next to the dais as Dhoni answered in Hindi. On his way out, Dhoni was asked one last question. It was Clarke. “How is it going, mate? Playing four more years I hope?!” Dhoni laughed, “Well, they (journalists) asked me about it!” (Full Coverage| Points table| Fixtures)
Dhoni, who retired from Test cricket late last year, said that he is 33 now and will wait till the T20 World Cup, to be held in India in March.
The wicketkeeper-batsman’s future has been a subject of speculation after his Test retirement and he has also spoken of the toll his body has taken by playing non-stop cricket.
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Earlier on the tour, after the Boxing Day Test last year, the highly secretive Dhoni had quit Tests. At the end of the tour, after the World Cup loss, there was speculation that he might even give up his India blues. There were no gentle loose balls for the Indian captain. It was a toe-crusher.
“Where do you see your ODI future from here?” was the first query. “I thought that question would be answered later, but it’s the first one.” He would joke about not being that old but immediately add the he was willing to continue. Still not convinced, he was asked again. “Mahi, are you sure you won’t retire tomorrow?” After he suddenly quit Tests, and the world came to know about it through a BCCI press release, Dhoni couldn’t be left off the hook so easily. “No no, sure I won’t,” he said, this time reassuringly.
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The walk back
But when the Indian skipper was walking off the field, run out by Glenn Maxwell, it somehow seemed like his last walk. Though Dhoni the Finisher had made a few appearances during the league games, the man with the big shots seemed to have gone missing for some time now. When Dhoni took guard, India needed to score at an 8-plus run-rate. It would gradually move to 10. Dhoni was still knocking the ball around, trying his old trick. With the run-rate climbing, the skipper was protecting the tailenders by conceding dot balls. He wanted to take the game to the final overs so that he could have one of those ‘all-or-nothing face-offs’ with the slog-over bowlers.
Magic missing
In his 65 ball-65 innings, Dhoni hit 3 fours and 2 sixes. But none had the magic of the one he hit on the final ball of the 2011 World Cup. You wondered what would motivate Dhoni after today. But he claims that he would still like to have a go. “For me every time I turn up, for me what’s important is to do something special so that I can be part of, or I can contribute to the win,” he said. And when he spoke of the team’s long-term plans, he had immediately hinted at an extension.
Through it all in the press conference, the (now former) World Cup winning captain also proved that he was gracious in this loss. When asked about the crown that he had lost, Dhoni said. “We took it from someone, so somebody took it from us. It’s as simple as that. You know, the best team takes it for four years, and then everybody gets their own plans ready and they challenge the one that has it.
“That has always been the case. It doesn’t stay with one for long, but that’s how it has been. If we would have played better cricket on this particular day, maybe we would have gone into the finals. But that’s how it is. In any international sport you have to be at your best. If not, the Cup gets taken.”
