Ever since MS Dhoni, a rather tetchy MS Dhoni, called Sam Ferris of the Cricket Australia website up on the dais at the end of India’s semifinal loss against West Indies in the World T20, a debate of sorts has been on. Ferris had asked a question about Dhoni’s international future. It’s a question he has been asked more than once since he packed his Test whites away in Australia a couple of seasons ago quite out of the blue. And it’s a question that has irritated him no end, something he has expressed in less dramatic ways in the past.
Some feel what Dhoni did was fun, kind of smooth, nothing to get het up about. He is ‘Captain Cool’, after all. The other lot think he was out of order, a bit too prickly for his own good.
I have been a bit torn about this from the time I saw the video but the more I think about it, the more I feel Dhoni was off on this one.
Not that I don’t empathise. India had just lost and that question is an old irritant. He could have barked back an answer. He chose humour – even if he was needling and patronising.
A simple “I’ll tell you when I decide” would have sufficed. That’s just me, though. I probably won’t be asked about quitting till I’m 60 (I hope; it would be awfully embarrassing otherwise). It won’t be news when it happens. No discussions on succession will take shape after.
Dhoni’s announcement to step down from the Test captaincy was sudden and unexpected, three-fourths into a series away in Australia. Not to forget, the man said after India’s exit from the 50-over World Cup last year, “I am 33, I am still running and I am still fit. Next year (after the World T20) will be the right time to decide if I should play the World Cup in 2019.”
This is next year. It is after the World T20. So why not ask the question? How is it, to use the man’s words, firing “the wrong ammunition at the wrong time”? How is it ammunition at all?
And it’s got nothing to do with Ferris, or me, having a son good enough to keep wickets for India or, as is the case, not. The same way the headline writer who came up with ‘Endulkar’ was just being witty-nasty and not trying to push her/his son, if s/he had one, into the No. 4 slot.
I can see Dhoni’s problem. The question is a constant reminder that he is getting on a bit – he’ll be 35 in a few months – and each time it crops up at the end of a disappointing show from the team he leads, it’s almost like a suggestion that he isn’t good enough anymore. Add to that the fact that Virat Kohli is nudging Sachin Tendulkar in the popularity stakes these days, and the Test team the younger man is in charge of has been winning more often than it isn’t. Dhoni’s position might not be under any threat, but social media often makes it seem like it is.
Dhoni is mostly polite and humorous, a professional, but even he does crack.
Unfortunately, this came soon after that other press conference, the one at the end of the Bangladesh match that India almost lost. “I know you aren’t happy that India won … listen to me, your tone and your question says that you aren’t happy with this result. Okay?” he said when asked about India’s struggle before the one-run win.
If that wasn’t pretty, what followed on Twitter was even less so. Amitabh Bachchan was not pleased with the TV commentators, who, he felt, spoke more about ‘the others’ than ‘our players’. The movie star was a fan airing his thoughts. But Dhoni endorsed that tweet quickly, throwing in a “nothing to add”. It’s one thing for Bachchan to feel the TV commentators should be cheerleaders for the Indian team, but for Dhoni to think so as well was, frankly, bizarre. Especially keeping in mind the political goings-on around India at the moment, where everything starts and ends with an idealised patriotism.
Yet, it’s probably not fair to place the blame squarely on Dhoni. Haven’t commentators, and even journalists, been fawning fans-in-disguise often enough? That “I know you aren’t happy India won” statement – journalists are supposed to be neutral, but maybe we have given Dhoni & Co the impression that we are travelling groupies of the Indian team.
Is that the real problem then? In the pursuit of that one exclusive quote or interview, or, these days, even a selfie, have we created a situation where cricketers can get away with bullying? The laughter in the background when Dhoni was fooling around with a visibly uncomfortable Ferris suggests as much.
Don’t get me wrong. I admire Dhoni greatly (not that it matters to him or anyone else). I think he has been one of the greatest things to happen to Indian cricket in the longest time. And I certainly don’t think it’s time for him to go, not from limited-overs cricket. Not for as long as he is playing and leading as well as he has been, especially during the World T20.
That’s not the point, though. The point is about a touch of humility, which Dhoni seems to have lost to an extent along the way, something we, as journalists, have facilitated, possibly encouraged. Many of us have stopped asking questions. Some of us even hang on to a “no comments” as an exclusive quote. Some of us would rather get a smile of acknowledgement from Dhoni or Kohli than do our job.
Perhaps the first step ought to be for us as journalists to look within. Dhoni’s conduct that evening was quite out of order. But it’s what led to it that might be the bigger problem. That’s what needs resolving first.
Some feel what Dhoni did was fun, kind of smooth, nothing to get het up about. He is ‘Captain Cool’, after all. The other lot think he was out of order, a bit too prickly for his own good.
I have been a bit torn about this from the time I saw the video but the more I think about it, the more I feel Dhoni was off on this one.
Not that I don’t empathise. India had just lost and that question is an old irritant. He could have barked back an answer. He chose humour – even if he was needling and patronising.
A simple “I’ll tell you when I decide” would have sufficed. That’s just me, though. I probably won’t be asked about quitting till I’m 60 (I hope; it would be awfully embarrassing otherwise). It won’t be news when it happens. No discussions on succession will take shape after.
Dhoni’s announcement to step down from the Test captaincy was sudden and unexpected, three-fourths into a series away in Australia. Not to forget, the man said after India’s exit from the 50-over World Cup last year, “I am 33, I am still running and I am still fit. Next year (after the World T20) will be the right time to decide if I should play the World Cup in 2019.”
This is next year. It is after the World T20. So why not ask the question? How is it, to use the man’s words, firing “the wrong ammunition at the wrong time”? How is it ammunition at all?
And it’s got nothing to do with Ferris, or me, having a son good enough to keep wickets for India or, as is the case, not. The same way the headline writer who came up with ‘Endulkar’ was just being witty-nasty and not trying to push her/his son, if s/he had one, into the No. 4 slot.
I can see Dhoni’s problem. The question is a constant reminder that he is getting on a bit – he’ll be 35 in a few months – and each time it crops up at the end of a disappointing show from the team he leads, it’s almost like a suggestion that he isn’t good enough anymore. Add to that the fact that Virat Kohli is nudging Sachin Tendulkar in the popularity stakes these days, and the Test team the younger man is in charge of has been winning more often than it isn’t. Dhoni’s position might not be under any threat, but social media often makes it seem like it is.
Dhoni is mostly polite and humorous, a professional, but even he does crack.
Unfortunately, this came soon after that other press conference, the one at the end of the Bangladesh match that India almost lost. “I know you aren’t happy that India won … listen to me, your tone and your question says that you aren’t happy with this result. Okay?” he said when asked about India’s struggle before the one-run win.
If that wasn’t pretty, what followed on Twitter was even less so. Amitabh Bachchan was not pleased with the TV commentators, who, he felt, spoke more about ‘the others’ than ‘our players’. The movie star was a fan airing his thoughts. But Dhoni endorsed that tweet quickly, throwing in a “nothing to add”. It’s one thing for Bachchan to feel the TV commentators should be cheerleaders for the Indian team, but for Dhoni to think so as well was, frankly, bizarre. Especially keeping in mind the political goings-on around India at the moment, where everything starts and ends with an idealised patriotism.
Yet, it’s probably not fair to place the blame squarely on Dhoni. Haven’t commentators, and even journalists, been fawning fans-in-disguise often enough? That “I know you aren’t happy India won” statement – journalists are supposed to be neutral, but maybe we have given Dhoni & Co the impression that we are travelling groupies of the Indian team.
Is that the real problem then? In the pursuit of that one exclusive quote or interview, or, these days, even a selfie, have we created a situation where cricketers can get away with bullying? The laughter in the background when Dhoni was fooling around with a visibly uncomfortable Ferris suggests as much.
Don’t get me wrong. I admire Dhoni greatly (not that it matters to him or anyone else). I think he has been one of the greatest things to happen to Indian cricket in the longest time. And I certainly don’t think it’s time for him to go, not from limited-overs cricket. Not for as long as he is playing and leading as well as he has been, especially during the World T20.
That’s not the point, though. The point is about a touch of humility, which Dhoni seems to have lost to an extent along the way, something we, as journalists, have facilitated, possibly encouraged. Many of us have stopped asking questions. Some of us even hang on to a “no comments” as an exclusive quote. Some of us would rather get a smile of acknowledgement from Dhoni or Kohli than do our job.
Perhaps the first step ought to be for us as journalists to look within. Dhoni’s conduct that evening was quite out of order. But it’s what led to it that might be the bigger problem. That’s what needs resolving first.
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