One win away from becoming the first captain to hold all three ICC titles, India skipper explains how thinking practically, and not emotionally, makes him tick
One win away from becoming the first captain to hold all three ICC titles, MS Dhoni explains how thinking practically, and not emotionally, makes him tick
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the epitome of composure on the cricket field. It takes something exceptional for Dhoni to express himself emotionally – usually, it’s a fantastic piece of fielding; sometimes, like on Friday, it is a special delivery of the sort R Ashwin sent down to Hashim Amla; very rarely, it’s a poor piece of cricket from a team-mate at a crunch situation.
For the most part, however closely you scrutinise Dhoni’s face, if you didn’t know the match situation, you wouldn’t ever guess if his team was winning or losing. An emotional, hand-waving, finger-pointing captain can sometimes rouse his troops into action but he can also end up sending the wrong signals. With Dhoni, all you get is a sense of calmness. In any team sport, the players that make up the team take their cue from the leader; India’s unflappable approach on the cricket field generally, Virat Kohli’s occasional bursts of aggression notwithstanding, stems from the manner in which Dhoni conducts himself, his serenity extending from the centre outwards and engulfing even the men in the outfield.
By his own admission, Dhoni wasn’t always so. He had his fair share mood swings during his younger days, but with the passage of time and with responsibilities being heaped on his shoulders, Dhoni has come to embrace the monk-like face of the Indian cricket team.
“I don’t think I was calm from my childhood,” Dhoni was candid enough to admit on Saturday (April 5), unfazed, though the title clash in the ICC World Twenty20 2014 against Sri Lanka was a little over 24 hours away. “I’m someone who doesn’t like losing much. When I was young, I had trouble controlling the emotions associated with getting defeated. Over a period of time, I have learnt how to control this emotion. I’m a believer in the fact that your emotions are yours alone and hence you should be the one who knows how to control it. Over time, I found dealing with emotions easier. I feel it is important because in a game, there are so many stages where you don’t want to take a decision emotionally. Practically, you decide what’s the best option.”
It sounds pretty simple, but it’s in the conquest of the mind that the genesis of Dhoni’s success story lies. India’s most successful captain is a solitary win away from becoming the first international skipper to lead his side to the grand ICC treble – the 50-over World Cup, the Champions Trophy and the World T20.
“For us, what is important is doing well in the final. The other factors we don’t really focus on, because it is more important to win a World cup for your country than focus on stats,” he said, offering gently to deflect any extraneous pressure that might be brought to bear upon his team, even if pressure is something that has accompanied him from the time he was made the captain of the T20 International team at the first World T20 in South Africa in 2007.
For the most part, however closely you scrutinise Dhoni’s face, if you didn’t know the match situation, you wouldn’t ever guess if his team was winning or losing. An emotional, hand-waving, finger-pointing captain can sometimes rouse his troops into action but he can also end up sending the wrong signals. With Dhoni, all you get is a sense of calmness. In any team sport, the players that make up the team take their cue from the leader; India’s unflappable approach on the cricket field generally, Virat Kohli’s occasional bursts of aggression notwithstanding, stems from the manner in which Dhoni conducts himself, his serenity extending from the centre outwards and engulfing even the men in the outfield.
By his own admission, Dhoni wasn’t always so. He had his fair share mood swings during his younger days, but with the passage of time and with responsibilities being heaped on his shoulders, Dhoni has come to embrace the monk-like face of the Indian cricket team.
“I don’t think I was calm from my childhood,” Dhoni was candid enough to admit on Saturday (April 5), unfazed, though the title clash in the ICC World Twenty20 2014 against Sri Lanka was a little over 24 hours away. “I’m someone who doesn’t like losing much. When I was young, I had trouble controlling the emotions associated with getting defeated. Over a period of time, I have learnt how to control this emotion. I’m a believer in the fact that your emotions are yours alone and hence you should be the one who knows how to control it. Over time, I found dealing with emotions easier. I feel it is important because in a game, there are so many stages where you don’t want to take a decision emotionally. Practically, you decide what’s the best option.”
It sounds pretty simple, but it’s in the conquest of the mind that the genesis of Dhoni’s success story lies. India’s most successful captain is a solitary win away from becoming the first international skipper to lead his side to the grand ICC treble – the 50-over World Cup, the Champions Trophy and the World T20.
“For us, what is important is doing well in the final. The other factors we don’t really focus on, because it is more important to win a World cup for your country than focus on stats,” he said, offering gently to deflect any extraneous pressure that might be brought to bear upon his team, even if pressure is something that has accompanied him from the time he was made the captain of the T20 International team at the first World T20 in South Africa in 2007.
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