Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s voice had the usual air of calm as he played down criticism and calls for his retirement from T20 Internationals, saying “everybody has their own views in life”.
The World Cup winning captain seemed pretty unaffected by all that surrounds him, as always.
Dhoni won the 2007 World T20 as captain with a young Indian team and then 2011 ODI World Cup. He struggled to get in the recent T20 series against New Zealand in Rajkot. And he was criticised by his former contemporaries.
The 36-year-old, though, said that did not affect how motivated he is to wear the Indian jersey.
There is another camp which supported India’s most successful captain in terms of trophies. The likes included Sunil Gavaskar, The captain Virat Kohli himself and India coach Ravi Shastri.
However, this has not affected Dhoni and he feels that the views of everyone have to be respected.
MS Dhoni while he was in Dubai on Sunday for the launch event of his Cricket Academy. He reacted on the matter in a gentle and respectful manner which won the hearts of many yet again.
“Everybody has views in life and it should be respected,” he said. He also cleared that playing for the country is the biggest motivation for him.
Dhoni retired from Test cricket during India’s tour of Australia in 2014/15 before stepping down as skipper of the limited overs side in 2016. Allowing Virat Kohli to take on the mantle of Indian captaincy in all three formats of the game.
Dhoni is currently in Dubai where he is inaugurating his global cricket academy. This is one of Dhoni’s first steps towards giving back something to the game that has given him everything.