MS Dhoni has not only been one of the most successful international captains in the history of the game, he has also been one of the wittiest cricketers over the years. Dhoni has often come up with hilarious responses to the serious questions asked in the press conferences.
Whenever Dhoni was a little annoyed or irritated with a particular question asked by a reporter, he would often take a dig at the reporter with his humour rather than losing the plot and getting angry at the reporter. Here are the 5 epic replies by Dhoni in the press conferences –
1. Before CB series 2011-12
After losing the Test series by 0-4, India opted for quite a few youngsters in the ODI team ahead of the start of the triangular CB series on the tour of Australia in 2011-12. In the pre-tournament press conference, when one of the reporters asked Dhoni about the selection of youngsters, the then Indian captain said, “From Kishore Kumar, we have gone to Sean Paul”.
Dhoni meant that however good the senior players might be, there always comes a transition phase where one generation has to be replaced by the other and it’s very much possible that the next generation might also turn out to be as good as the previous generation.
2. After India Vs England Test series 2014
When India lost the Test series in England by 3-1 in 2014, one of the English reporters asked Dhoni if he would agree that his batsmen should skip the IPL and focus on their Test match batsmanship, Dhoni said, “Don’t be so jealous of IPL”.
Dhoni probably meant that IPL had nothing to do with the failures of the Indian batsmen in English conditions, but rather than putting it that way, Dhoni took a subtle dig at the reporter because he was irritated by the fact that the reporter was needlessly associating IPL with India’s test failures.
3. During WT20 2016
When India got eliminated from WT20 2016, an Australian reporter asked Dhoni if he was considering his retirement. Dhoni, in response to that question, asked the reporter to come up to him. When the reporter came up, Dhoni asked him if he had seen him run between the wickets.
The reporter said yes. Dhoni asked what he thought about his running between the wickets. The reporter said, “very fast”. Dhoni then asked, “Do you think I can survive till 2019 World Cup”? The reported nodded in agreement again, to which Dhoni said, “You got the answer to your question mate”.
4. On India’s tour of Australia 2014-15
In the second innings of the second Test match on India’s tour to Australia in 2014, Virat Kohli batted ahead of Shikhar Dhawan who generally opens the batting for India in all formats, but in that particular innings, he batted down the order because he was carrying a niggle and the team management decided to hold him back.
But, one of the reporters in the press conference suggested that there might be some sort of rift between Virat and Shikhar and asked for Dhoni’s clarification on it. MS said, “yes Virat stabbed Shikhar, so Shikhar was held back. When he recovered, he was sent in to bat. Now Warner Bros can make a movie on it”. It was such a funny answer that all the reporters in the conference hall started laughing.
5. Before 2018 IPL final
In the pre-match press conference ahead of 2018 IPL final, a reporter asked MS why he didn’t bring Harbhajan Singh on to bowl even a single over in one of the previous games that CSK played despite the fact that Harbhajan was the most experienced bowler in his bowling attack.
MS Dhoni said, “I have lots of bikes and cars at home. That doesn’t mean I use all of them at once. I use them when I need them.” By that answer, Dhoni meant he didn’t require Harbhajan’s services in that particular game situation and that’s why he didn’t bring him on to bowl. The answer was simple, but again the way Dhoni put it, it was classic.
