Mahendra Singh Dhoni had only a mocking smile for media men who overstepped BCCI diktat that questions not pertaining to Champions Trophy would not be answered by the skipper who was shepherded into the mandatory tour departure press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday night.
Having studiously avoided the media as Chennai Super Kings captain and India Cements vice-president ever since the spot-fixing scandal broke out on May 16 with the arrest of his former team mate Sreesanth, Dhoni stayed silent in the face of a couple of uncomfortable questions with regard to the fix Indian cricket is in — especially after the arrest of his good friend and CSK team functionary Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI president N. Srinivasan — and on whether the Indian cricket lover could be convinced that cricket in Champions Trophy would be fair.
So manacled is the Indian skipper by the current circumstances in Indian cricket that it was a wonder at all that he was made to field questions at a media conference.
His conflict-of-interests situation as CSK captain and VP of team owner Indian Cements is sufficient to mute him. But just in case he needed some help a handy TNCA official, Dr Baba, media manager whose son is a CSK player, was present to get the journalists on to the next ‘comfortable’ question, which Dhoni answered in his usual much rehearsed style.
While a stoic silence was on expected lines, Dhoni managed a knowing smile when asked to respond as the leader of Indian cricket.
His smile broadened into a chuckle at the next searching question on how difficult it would be for him and his team to instil faith in cricket loving people that everything would be “fair” during Champions Trophy. What a farce the PC was on a media that would have doted on every word Dhoni would have said on the real issues facing the game in the country.