5 Times MS Dhoni kept mum in front of media

MS Dhoni’s story in international cricket is nothing less than a saga. Who would have known that a long-haired wicketkeeper with an orthodox batting technique would go on and establish himself as one of the best skippers to have played the sport. The Ranchi-born player, after Sourav Ganguly, emerged as one of the best captains that India ever had.

From leading a young brigade in T20 World Cup 2007 to helping India lift their second World Cup trophy in 2011– MS Dhoni etched his name into record books as one of the most prolific skippers in the history in Indian cricket. Moreover, he had an impressive record with his bat and gloves too. Despite having an unorthodox technique, Dhoni went on to prove his mettle in all forms of the game and his staggering record speaks for his class. Over 10,000 runs in ODIs showcase his class in the limited-overs cricket.

Despite being in the latter stage of his career, Dhoni is still regarded as one of the best finishers in the sport. Amid all the retirement rumours through which the former Indian skipper is currently going through, Dhoni is considered as a one-of-a-kind player which Indian cricket has ever produced.

Dhoni was set to lead Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2020 but the coronavirus outbreak has put the tournament to a halt. Along with boasting an impressive career which spans more than a decade, Dhoni also had to deal with several controversies during his stint with the national side. However, the ‘Captain Cool’ has either dodged controversies or keep mum in front of the media. Here, we discuss five such instances when Dhoni decided to keep his mouth shut in front of the media.

Here are such five instances:

1. MS Dhoni’s retirement rumours

The former Indian skipper last donned the Indian jersey in the semi-final of ICC World Cup 2019 where the Men in Blue suffered a thumping defeat against New Zealand. Since then, Dhoni hasn’t featured in any India matches and that has fueled his retirement rumours. Many reports have surfaced that the 38-year-old has already played his last game for India and he’ll be announcing his retirement soon.

However, the wicketkeeper-batsman has not uttered a word in front of the media about his future. Dhoni has never been vocal about his retirement plans as many fans are still eager to see him don the Indian jersey in T20 World Cup 2020. India head coach Ravi Shastri had also stated that Dhoni needs to perform in IPL 2020 to make his national comeback.

However, due to the commencement of IPL 2020 in jeopardy, the future of Dhoni looks bleak and the prolific batsman has never revealed his retirement plans to the media yet. Many pundits have opined that Dhoni has called it quits and is never anticipated to don the national colours in future. But the fate of Dhoni’s career and information about his retirement still remains a secret. Moreover, his exclusion from BCCI’s annual contract list has multiplied Dhoni’s retirement speculations.

2. Dhoni’s rift with the seniors

Dhoni always had a preference for young players and fit players who can rotate the strike well and contribute with exemplary fielding efforts. This tactic of Dhoni may have caused a rift between him and many Indian veterans when he was at the helm of the national side. Several reports related to the rift between Dhoni and Sehwag as well as Dhoni and Gambhir have been published across the internet.

However, the 38-year-old has never been vocal about his spat and differences with his teammates. Many cricket fanatics still believe that Dhoni was the reason behind the oust of Indian veterans like Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman from the national side. Many eminent players like Gautam Gambhir and Yograj Singh have criticized Dhoni at several occasions.

However, Dhoni has been silent on the issue since almost a decade now. He played a pivotal role in the rebuilding of the Indian team and that lead many senior players getting axed from the national side. Amongst many controversies of Dhoni’s career, this issue remains the topic of a never-ending debate. Dhoni overlooked several legendary cricketers to give opportunities to the youngsters that helped in the reinforcement of Team India.

3. Dhoni’s gloves in the World Cup

MS Dhoni’s love for armed forces is not a secret. The former India skipper has showcased his love and respect for the army on multiple occasions. However, one controversy that grabbed the headlines was Dhoni using military insignia gloves while wicketkeeping in ICC World Cup 2019.

Dhoni is an honorary lieutenant colonel of India’s territorial army special forces — just the second Indian cricketer to receive this honour — and during India’s encounter against South Africa, he was seen sporting the gloves behind the wickets. However, ICC rules state that only manufacturers’ logos are allowed on wicketkeeping glove.

Although Dhoni faced no penalty, ICC asked the veteran to remove the logo from his gloves and this issue spread like wildfire across the social media. Dhoni was also warned by ICC in 2008 when he wore an uninspected pair of gloves in India’s encounter against Australia. Dhoni remained silent on both occasions and decided to not say anything about the controversy in front of the media.

4. Chennai Super Kings’ match-fixing saga

Since the inception of Indian Premier League, Dhoni has emerged as one of the most successful skippers in the tournament. He has been an integral part of CSK and his fan-following in the franchise is second to none. However, the CSK skipper chose to keep mum in front of media when the 2013 IPL match-fixing scandal broke out.

The 2013 IPL scandal, involving Chennai Super Kings, may have the involvement of Dhoni in the saga. SP Kumar, the investigator of the match-fixing saga, found in his investigation that a bookie, named Kitty, had confessed that Gurunath Meiyappan had informed him that Dhoni had agreed to lose the match after putting up a total of 140 runs.

The investigator said in his report that Gurunath had allegedly ‘confirmed’ Dhoni’s involvement in the controversy. Thereafter, Kumar was transferred from Internal Security to Railways post his interrogation with Kitty. Even after seven years, Dhoni’s involvement in the controversy remains a secret and the wicketkeeper-batsman has also been never vocal in front of the media about this issue.

5. Dhoni’s past relationships

The MS Dhoni biopic spilt the beans on his personal life, relationships and cricketing career. However, there are many things which the biopic did not comprise. Dhoni tied the knot with Sakshi in 2010 but before that, the former India skipper was also in quite a few relationships. Dhoni has never been vocal in the media about his past relationships.

In 2007, there were rumours of Dhoni and Deepika Padukone’s relationship. Before getting married to Sakshi, Dhoni’s name was linked with quite a few actresses including Raai Laxmi and Asin. He was also linked with Preeti Simoes, the former creative director of Comedy Nights with Kapil.

However, there is no concrete news about the authenticity of such rumours as Dhoni has always kept mum about his past relationships. He also has never been vocal about his past life and his relationships before becoming an international cricketer.