LONDON: MS Dhoni almost let the cat out of the bag after India’s agonising exit from the World T20. Having earlier contradicted TOI’s reports ofa rift between him and Virender Sehwag and paraded the entire team in a show of unity, the captain was again asked on Sunday if any dressing-room ‘turbulence’ prompted the early ouster.
Dhoni, while preaching the virtues of keeping dressing-room altercations secret, finally hinted that a difference of opinion had, indeed, taken place. “It’s not like I am holding a bottle… and saying this is drink and drink it. It’s really upsetting before a tournament like this. If you have senior players like Sehwag and Rahul Dravid, you can walk up to them and say this is what happened. They are clever enough to understand what has happened,” said Dhoni, going around in circles.
“Even if there was a fight between me and Sehwag, we two are in the best position to know what happened. We know what’s happening between us and that really does not bother the team environment. The dressing room atmosphere was really great even though we lost quite a few games in this format.”
Surely, discord between two senior players might affect the rest of the team? “If you take it too seriously, more often than not you will not play well. My teammates help in that regard. We joke about the incidents and the pressure gets released. Hopefully, it won’t happen in future and there will be less pressure.”
By all accounts, looking at India’s performance, it appears as if the team did take the controversy seriously.
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