The middle finger gestures of Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma at Sydney and Perth respectively have paved way for a debate over the young cricketers’ behaviour, and Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said they needed to get smarter in dealing with fans.
“It’s an interesting thing because -- I was having a chat with a few players – there is someone who starts something, and more often than not it is the retaliator who gets punished. It happens in cricket also. We need to be smart as to what needs to be done. Of course, it will be good if we can avoid a few gestures. But usually you have to be smart as to what people are trying to do, and how you are reacting to a particular situation,” Dhoni said here on Thursday.
The Jharkhandi said the young cricketers needed to learn to interact with fans, and convert them into their supporters.
“Everybody is fantastic early in the morning, but once, after the tea break, after a couple of barrels of beer you know, it gets a bit difficult. If you see, the Aussie fans are quite aggressive, and quite verbal. It’s something you need to learn as to how to interact with the fans, and how you convert them into someone who wants you to perform as an individual even when they want your team to go down.”
Dhoni also rubbished reports in the Australian media about rift in the Indian team. “I have never seen an Indian team fight. It has been the real strength of the Indian cricket team. That’s one good thing with our side. What really helps me is the information that flows in from all sides, whether it comes from the experienced players or the vice-captain or the youngsters. We all move in the same direction.
“As far as fights (reports about infighting between Dhoni and Virender Sehwag) are concerned, the opposition is just sitting and dreaming of it after a few beers because such a thing never happened,” he said.
Brad Haddin had commented that the Indian side cracked under pressure sooner than any other team, and Dhoni pooh-poohed the Australian wicketkeeper’s theory. “It’s not true. If you have lost two Test matches, and then sitting on the ground and weeping for four hours means hurting. We are grown-up boys and we won’t really do that. As far as not doing well is concerned, it hurts a bit, but at the end of the day you want to improve and come back. You don’t want to be emotional, sit on a chair and say okay ‘it’s not really going our way’,” he said.
Dhoni said the team would like to perform better in the Perth Test, forgetting the last two Tests. “If you die you die. You don’t see which is the better way to die. We want to get back in this series. In England we weren’t really there, so we didn’t really perform to our potential. We have learned a lot from that series. We have learned a lot from this series also. We need to implement it in the next two Test matches and make a comeback.”