MS Dhoni is one of the biggest names in world cricket. Even after international retirement, the former India skipper continues to be the sight for sore eyes for millions and millions of his fans whenever he dons up the Chennai Super Kings jersey.
Apart from his great skills as a keeper-batsman and shrewd mind as a captain, Dhoni, the ‘Captain Cool’, is also famous for his witty responses in press conferences. With a charming smile, Dhoni has often in his career responded spontaneously showing his great sense of humour.
Here are 8 times when MS Dhoni shot back with a witty reply:
When Dhoni roasted an Australian journalist
One of the famous moments of Dhoni’s at a post-game press conference is when he hilariously roasted back an Australian journalist, Sam Ferris, who had raised the question of Dhoni’s retirement after India’s loss in the 2016 World T20 semi-final to West Indies.
Dhoni called up the journalist to sit nearby him and proceeded to ask whether he was fit to play till 2019. When he said yes, Dhoni smiled back to quip “then, you’ve answered my question!”
Bollywood star reference from the skipper
After 4-0 thrashings in the Test series in England and Australia in 2011/12, MS Dhoni dropped a few senior players to incorporate some youngsters. When asked about this transition period, Dhoni replied: “From Kishore Kumar, we have gone to Sean Paul.”
When Dhoni missed the birth ahead of the 2015 World Cup
Part of being an international cricketer is to make sacrifices, to travel thousands of miles away from family and home. One of those sacrifices MS Dhoni made was to miss the birth of his daughter as was in Australia just ahead of the 2015 World Cup.
When queried his thoughts about missing his first child’s birth, Dhoni had a gem of a reply that made the fans salute his commitment: “Not really. As of now, I am on national duty so I think everything else can wait. The World Cup is a very important campaign.”
Dhoni becomes frank with journalists
Although India were having a horror tour of Australia in 2011/12, it was good to see Dhoni retain his sense of humour when he talked about the weather in Australia, and how he didn’t pack any jacket because the advertisement said the heat will be Down Under.
“I was sitting at home and watching television. More often than not, you watch some really strong advertisements in the lead-up to an India-Australia series. The advertisement said: ‘It is winter out here, and summer out here, so get ready to feel the heat Down Under.’ I took it very seriously. I didn’t pack a single jacket, only to realize it is pretty cold here,” Dhoni remarked leaving the journalists chuckling.
Dhoni has suggestions for Marvel
On the 2014/15 tour of Australia – another! – there were some *baseless* rumours about a rift between opener Shikhar Dhawan and star batsman Virat Kohli. Instead of shrugging it off, Dhoni tackled the situation in the media room in his own hilarious style.
“Actually that was the case. Virat used a knife. He stabbed Shikhar, who just recovered out of that then we pushed him to bat. These are all stories. Marvel, maybe Warner Bros or somebody should pick up this and make a nice a movie out of it,” the then-skipper said.
MS Dhoni’s epic response has Kane Williamson in splits
In the press conference ahead of the IPL 2018 final, between CSK and SRH, MS Dhoni was asked why he didn’t use veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh even for a single over in the Qualifier 1 before between the two sides.
MS Dhoni’s answer had everyone in the room, including Williamson and SRH coach Tom Moody in laughter.
Dhoni quipped: “I have quite a few cars and bikes in my garage, I don’t ride all at a time.” This got Moody in quite a bit howling before Dhoni went on to explain that Harbhajan was not needed to bowl in that game.
Dhoni tackles question on rift with Sehwag in a cold manner
With MSD becoming the captain over the likes of Sehwag and Yuvraj, there were bound to be reports of strifes between them. But ‘Captain Cool’ knew how to handle such questions.
Ahead of the 2009 T20 World Cup, Dhoni was asked about Sehwag’s injury, to which he calmly replied “Maybe you should ask his physio to issue a press release!”
Where’s the Helicopter Shot?
Ahead of the home 2016 T20 World Cup, India hosted Sri Lanka for a T20I series which India started on a losing note. In the post-match conference, Dhoni was interrogated about his own form, and especially why he is not playing his famous Helicopter shot as frequently as before.
“You cannot fly a helicopter under the ocean or in a submarine,” Dhoni replied savagely, before explaining that he can only play the Helicopter shot if the ball is in the slot and, cheekily added, he’d need a stool to play it to a bouncer.
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