IPL as a brand can survive on its own: Dhoni
Victorious at last in the Indian Premier League and headed to the West Indies to captain India in the T20 World Cup, Skipper MS Dhoni spoke exclusively to NDTV in his first television interview since IPL boss Lalit Modi's suspension.
Talking about the controversies that the IPL has been mired in, Dhoni hoped that things would be sorted out in time for Season 4: "Lalit was part of it for three seasons...quite a few allegations...up to the authorities to see what has happened. They will come up with something that's good for everyone...before IPL we have one year, let's hope for the best," he said.
But would IPL survive the controversy? Yes, said the Indian Skipper, "IPL as a brand can survive on its own. But you have to come up with some innovative ideas every time to make it better. No individual but few brains will work together to pull off sensational ideas."
"Match fixing," Dhoni said, " is worse (sic) allegation against a cricketer...anyone involved should be punished cricket should be clean."
When on all things controversial, what about the role vastu has played in CSK matches at the instance of owner N Srinivasan? Dhoni, who has reportedly been a little piqued about having to bow to stellar configurations when making cricketing decisions played defensive: "Srinivasan's vastu has been good...nothing bad. Every franchise is doing little things. It is subtle...most cricketers are superstitious. No wild predictions like was made in 2007."
From IPL season 3, Dhoni counted meeting the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala as a "very special' moment. "May be because of Dalai Lama's blessings we won the finals. Of course, because of the way the team played ," he said
The Chennai Super Kings had "played to 70 per cent of our potential", he said, modestly giving complete credit to his team: "I am not the king of T20 yet but Chennai Super Kings"
IPL over and now looking ahead at the World Cup, Dhoni refused to participate in the "Will playing IPL have tired the team" debate, saying: " If we go and do well we would say IPL helped or would say IPL was tiring for us."
The Indian Skipper believes that in the West Indies, "If we don't look at the sun, we will be fine." No, that is not from an astrologer's list of dos and don'ts but more about adjusting the body clock to a different time zone many miles away from home.
On his squad, Dhoni is confident that the injured, out-of-form Yuvraj Singh will regain confidence in time for the tournament: "Cricket is a game. You will be low on confidence more than two times a season A little nervousness is good. Yuvraj loves challenges, he is a player for the big stage."
And he is counting on CSK teammate Murali Vijay to come good in West Indies. Murli, who has been in spectacular form in the IPL and came into the World Cup squad as a last-minute replacement for opener Virendra Sehwag. "Will miss Sehwag...hoping Murali Vijay does not let us miss Sehwag", said Dhoni, who believes that Murali's 100 was the best IPL innings.
And if there is anything at all that you didn't know about the Indian Skipper, here are some extra nuggets:
He has 22 bikes.
He says he has never been to an IPL party
He is not convinced that everyone can play with a Mongoose bat
He says the T20 trophy was heavier than the IPL trophy, but the latter is special.
Watch full interview below...
http://cricket.ndtv.com/storypage.as...TEN20100139669