Mumbai, June 11: If Saeed Mirza has seen images of a finger-wagging Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the press conference the other night, he would believe that there is no one better than the Indian captain to play the lead role if his 1980 classic Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai was to be remade today.
Dhoni’s show of pique against the media would be matched in Indian cricket history only by that of another captain, Sunil Gavaskar, who in the late 70s once took most of his players along with him to prove to a newspaper in the South that the spirit in his team was not dysfunctional, as the paper had alleged.
But Dhoni, unlike Gavaskar in his pomp, has not generally been given to such moodiness. Indeed, he has a reputation for being uber cool, which is why the greater speculation whether everything is hunky dory in the Indian dressing room today.
Yet, put yourself in the position of a young captain trying to retain a World title, then suddenly finds he is about to lose his key player — who also happens to be the vice-captain — through an undisclosed injury, and Dhoni’s acute indignation becomes understandable. (Unless, of course there is some diabolical plot to get rid of Sehwag as some theories have alleged).
Perhaps Dhoni came to know of the seriousness of Sehwag’s injury early enough to put Rohit Sharma through his paces as opener. That this was leaked out as some problem between him and Sehwag would have cut up the Indian captain.
In a sense, it is still possible to rationalise Sehwag’s reluctance to come to terms with his injury. Most sportspersons live on the hope of recovering quicker than is sometimes medically possible. Moreover, there is so much to lose in cricket today in terms of money and fame that nobody wants to miss out.
But what of the BCCI, which should have known better? Why was the fitness of the World Twenty20-bound players during the IPL not monitored closely? Australia did fitness tests on its players after the one-day series against Pakistan and declined permission to many players to take part in the IPL. Why were all the Indian players not subjected to a fitness test before they boarded the plane for England?
Maybe it is time for Dhoni to be asking, rather than answering questions.
–Agencies