When it’s about Indian cricket, my name keeps popping up, so quite used to it: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

No Relief

The question was pretty straightforward. It wondered whether Dhoni was now relieved about the Supreme Court hearing being out so that Indian cricket could move on. The Indian skipper though didn’t express any form of relief and instead spoke about expecting another volcano to erupt anytime soon with his tongue firmly in his cheek.

“I know one thing, irrespective of what is there, when it comes to Indian cricket, my name keeps popping up. This has been settled, something new will pop up. It keeps popping up. I am quite used to it,” he said.

“If there is nothing, some speculative story comes up, big or small. I have to keep dealing with all these things. It is the end of one story, something else may start in a couple of days’ time and you can monitor it,” he added before the customary smile returned to his face.

On Friday, a TV reporter had tried getting a byte from the Indian captain on the Supreme Court hearing as Dhoni scampered off the practice area here. But he had jogged past the camera with a smile on his face.

That wasn’t the only time he waxed Dhoni-quent at the SCG on the eve of the ODI. He had missed out on playing the rescheduled New Year’s Test at the SCG earlier this month after promptly retiring from the longer format after the last day’s play at the MCG. A few days earlier, he had refused to comment on his Test retirement saying it was his decision not to do so. Here, he was asked whether the World Cup could be his swansong in the ODI format.

Pat came the reply.

“My Test retirement has really excited you,” he said. Then came the follow-up query. “But have you decided upon your future in the shorter format?” “No, no, not now,” Dhoni replied.

Then came a question regarding the absence of team director Ravi Shastri during the first two matches of the tri-series, and whether it was bad timing on the part of the former India skipper to not stay with the team.”I don’t think so,” said Dhoni. “You asked me whether I thought so. I said I don’t,” he added.