PREPARING INTERVIEW REPORT OF MY FAVOURITE CELEBRITY

In this MS Dhoni interview, you can get to know how Mahendra Singh Dhoni was before becoming an India Cricketer. This interview of Mahendra Singh Dhoni  was taken soon after he had smashed a sesnational 148 against Pakistan in his early international career.

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni…you have already played some scintillating knocks in your short career for India, so has the world seen your full potential yet or there’s much more to come out of you?

MS Dhoni: Yeah, I think I have done reasonably well because my innings of 148 at Vizag was I think I had done almost everything in that. But the main thing is the consistency levels. So I think the expectations are very high and I have to score runs at regular intervals and whenever the team needs. So that’s one point, I have been working really hard on.

•What’s the secret of the ‘Dhoni Power’?

MS Dhoni: I even don’t know the secret because I really don’t do the gym works and all. But I started off as a footballer, so the training I did over there is helping me a lot.

•what about the story about the four litres of milk that you have daily?

MS Dhoni: Actually it is just a bit exaggerated. I love milk and I just have one litre of milk every day. Previously, it used to be just plain milk, but now its shakes or whatever… like hot chocolates in any form.

•Not only do you hit those big big sixes, but you also run excellently between the wickets even when the conditions are hot and humid. So are you a big fitness freak?

MS Dhoni: I am not really a fitness freak, I think it’s quite natural for me, I am from a place where the genes do matter, I am from the mountains. I am from Almora, Uttaranchal. Basically the genes are helping me and obviously I am working hard on my fitness right now with the training schedule given by Gregory King, our trainer. I am working hard on it but it’s quite natural to me.

•can Mahendra Singh Dhoni ever repeat or play a better innings than the 148 he played against Pakistan at Vizag?

MS Dhoni: Yeah, hopefully I am looking forward for it. With the new form of play that of the powerplays and all, if I get a chance I would really like to go even one run more than the 148. Obviously I like to get a 150. It’s not easy to repeat this kind of performance at the international level. But with this powerplay, I think it can be done. It’s not impossible, if I have done it once, I can do it once again.

•What would happen if a batsman like Virender Sehwag or MS Dhoni bat all the 50 Overs in a One Dayer?

MS Dhoni: I think we would be looking forward for a score of 350 or above. Easily 350 or more because there are batsmen who are even more devastating than even Virender Sehwag or myself like Shahid Afridi, like Adam Gilchrist and they are big hitters at the international level. With this powerplay rule, 350 would be a gettable score especially in the sub continent

•what about the individual scores that can be scored by the Sehwags, Dhonis and others when they bat through all the overs?

MS Dhoni: I think some players would get the 200 runs mark. It wouldn’t be very hard I would say, somebody would get it.

•Now you have played five years of first class cricket and about an year of international cricket, so who has been the most difficult bowler you had faced so far and the best sixer you hit?

MS Dhoni: Hmmm…I think the best six, I have hit was in Kenya. I think I hit a Pakistani medium fast bowler. So I stepped out and hit him, it was a quite a long six and may be it was a 150 yards sixer or even more than that. I think that was the best six and the best bowler I have faced… I think I have faced lots of them. I mean I have faced bowlers who are very difficult on different kinds of tracks. So there are lots of bowlers like that both at international and domestic level and I wouldn’t like to name any one of them.

•Could you tell us about your background and how you have come to this level through the ranks of playing for small cricketing states like Bihar and Jharkand?

MS Dhoni: I think I started off as a footballer, I played couple of years of football and then shifted to cricket as a school cricketer playing the schools cricket and I managed to get into the Under 16 Districts and then the Under 19s. We played the U19 finals in 1999-2000 and that was the season, six players of our team including me made their debut in the Ranji Trophy. In 2000-2001, I played in the Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, I was very consistent in the domestic competitions. Last year, we had gone to the India A tour of Kenya and Zimbabwe and that was the turning point, I performed well over there and got my berth in the Indian team on the tour of Bangladesh.

•Many people actually raise their eyebrows watching your footwork while batting. So do you think you can handle the best of the best bowlers in the future?

I think time is the best thing that can say about it. But I don’t think I can change much about it because that’s how I got into the international level and I think I would continue with that.

•How do you spend your day when you are not having any cricket to play?

MS Dhoni: Actually I love music, I love driving particularly bikes. I love my bikes, I love playing computer games, I play quite a bit of badminton when I get time. But I love bikes more than anything.

•Do you think, the youngsters should be given more opportunity as wicket keeper?

MS Dhoni: Well, if you ask me, I am the one who really wants the youngsters to get opportunities. Talking about wicket keepers, yes they should be given chances but only in IPL. Let me retire first. You are trying to shut down my shop too early, but I will tackle this question anyhow.

•Any tips for student-athletes?

Dare to dream.

 

What's your personal mantra?

What works for me is to keep things simple in life. Cricket is a simple sport: You see the ball, you hit the ball. But you can make it complex: is it an inswing or an outswing, is it a yorker or a bouncer? You can keep on adding layers of complexity to the game and this applies to your life too. But if you are honest to yourself, you will take good decisions.

 

What can India do to become a good sporting nation?

You can't get results with a short-term approach to sports. Money doesn't directly translate into gold medals in the Olympics. How it works is that nations have to build infrastructure, provide nutritional information and then spot talented athletes, supporting them financially and with first-class training, coaching and scientific expertise.

To become a great sporting nation you can't be result-oriented. We also can't watch more sport than we play. You have to educate and draw young people into sports. When we were growing up I played at least five sports: football, cricket, badminton, hockey, table tennis. When I interact with children in school nowadays and ask who plays football? There are a lot of hands. Then I point out that I am not referring to playing FIFA online. Immediately a lot of hands go down. Parents are happy sometimes to let their children play video games all the time, but they must think of their child's fitness. If you don't play any sports when you are young, you are not going to pick it up at 30. If you play sports you will do better in your academics. It is important for schools and parents to push for sports and that is how we will win medals in the Olympics. With enough passion for sports I am sure we can become a good sporting nation.

 

What did you think of the biopic?

It's a deeply emotional movie. I was shown the unedited, raw footage without a soundtrack and was stunned. Silent. All these things that had happened so long ago suddenly became vivid — where I lived, my school, where we played. I went blank. It was nice to be in the past for a moment.