Dhoni’s wife enjoys cricket and not the attention

So what exactly does it mean to be Indian cricket's first lady? Ask Sakshi Dhoni and she'd perhaps be unaware.

Sakshi and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's love story that began in March 2008 was India's best-kept secret for two years before the duo tied the knot last July. Just like Dhoni's personal life has been aloof since his onset eight years back, his wife appears to be just as guarded.

Sakshi was spotted at P2 Pavilion here at Chinnaswamy Stadium during Chennai's May 22 IPL game against Bangalore. She was sitting by herself, enjoying the cricket, not the types who grab attention. There was a bodyguard of sorts who was with her the whole time, but Sakshi seemed to be totally unaware of his presence. Even when she went to serve herself dinner during the mid-innings break, Sakshi was uncomfortable having a bodyguard around her, and may have gestured that she needn't be followed around.

Hailing from a typical middle-class household, Sakshi is said to be a simple girl who happened to floor the Indian skipper during their meeting at Taj Bengal in December 2007. A hotel management student, she was interning at the hotel where India and Pakistan were put up ahead of their clash at Eden Gardens.

When MiD DAY asked her how she was enjoying travelling with the Chennai Super Kings this IPL season, Sakshi said: "I am really sorry, I don't mean to be rude. But, I am not comfortable talking to any media at the moment."

That reaction from the Dehradun girl summed up her approach towards fame and everything associated with being the wife of perhaps the most influential Indian cricketer of this generation.

MS Dhoni wins Rafael Nadal and Kobe Bryant

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the most marketable Asian sport star, according to London-based SportsPro magazine. The India captain’s marketability is higher than international sporting icons like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Kobe Bryant. “Dhoni has undeniably become the player that sponsors opt for to endorse their brand in the south-eastern Asian country,” it says. “Without question though, in the immediate aftermath of the World Cup and the IPL, Dhoni’s marketability will reach a new high in India, and everyone will want a piece of its new national hero,” says the magazine, which has listed out 50 most marketable sportspersons of the year. Dhoni is 10th on the list.

Leading the poll is Usain Bolt, who moves up from fourth place last year and replaces NBA star LeBron James who topped the analysis in 2010. “Although he will never attain quite the Messianic status that Sachin Tendulkar has with the Indian population, Dhoni has undeniably become the number one choice for those looking to boost their brand in the south-eastern Asian country,” says the magazine. “The main point of the list was to find out where the value for money might lie. It is not supposed to be a ranking of the wealthiest people in sport, or even the most popular but simply who represents a good investment from a sports sponsor’s perspective,” the magazine says. Dhoni endorses 23 brands, including Reebok, Pepsi and Lays. He has been guaranteed a minimum earning of US$19 million over the next three years.

Yuvraj Singh, man of the tournament in the World Cup, is 49th in the list. Of all those caught in Indian cricket’s rising tide, Yuvraj looks set to be lifted the highest. “He was popular enough among the national team’s devoted following before being named player of the tournament at this year’s World Cup; with his transformation from free-scoring all-rounder to bona-fide national hero, brands are said to be forming a disorderly queue,” the magazine says. Yuvraj reportedly earns as much as US$1 million per deal from the likes of Reebok, Fiat and Seagram’s Royal Stag and it is anticipated that at least a 30 per cent jump in his endorsement fees.

“For companies wary of the corporate haze around Dhoni and the deified Tendulkar, Yuvraj is perhaps the best available option. A lead role in upcoming animation feature Captain India offers a route to Bollywood, and with over 440,000 followers on social networking site Twitter — nearly 200,000 more than Dhoni — he can reach out to the sprawling Indian diaspora too. As captain of expansion Pune Warriors, Yuvraj is also central to the commercial fortunes of that sponsors’ paradise,” the magazine points out. The key tenet of the list is the search for value for marketing money. As such, it is pointed out, the likes of Roger Federer, David Beckham and Michael Schumacher — household names and hugely marketable individuals — are not included in the rankings as the cost of an endorsement with them is likely to be at its peak or, indeed, on the wane.

Dhoni’s passion for bikes

To have something in common with the Indian cricket team's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni can be any fan's dream. Members of city-based bikers' group Road Survivors got to live that when they met Dhoni, who agreed to meet them after going through a report about them in Times of India on Wednesday. The avid bikers talked to him about his love for motorcycles. They also gifted a T-shirt of their club to Dhoni at Taj hotel.

However, MSD politely turned down their request to join the club saying he did not have much time for biking anymore. Nine members of the club reached the hotel at around 12.30pm. Initially, cops turned down their demand of meeting Dhoni as they claimed he was meditating. Luckily for them, the bikers met a member of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who then got in touch with the champion.

One of the club's members, Aditya Mohan, said the CSK squad member told them that Dhoni had read the TOI report, which had mentioned that they wanted to meet him. ''He said Dhoni was coming to meet us. We were delighted to know that we would finally get to see him. After about 30 minutes, Dhoni arrived and spoke about his passion for biking,' Aditya said.

Dhoni told members of Road Survivors (also known as Chandigarh Royal Enfield Club) that he owned a Royal Enfield Machismo and loved to ride his Rajdoot 350 whenever he got time. ''MSD enquired about the club and its expeditions. He was interested in knowing when we rode and how many members we had,' Aditya added. Dhoni also asked the motorcyclists about their Ladakh trips as they gifted him a key chain they had brought from there.

One of the bikers, Mohali-based Manpreet Walia, also handed a vuvuzela made in his factory to the Indian captain. They also had a four-year-old with them, who gifted Dhoni a drawing made by him as MSD left for a team meeting.

Dhoni - the finest captain in the last three decades

India's emphatic World Cup victory has proved beyond doubt they are currently the best all-round cricket team. MS Dhoni's polished performance as skipper, where he pushed, prodded and cajoled his side into peaking at the right time, has shown he's not only the best leader in the game but also one of the finest of the last 30 years. His performance ranks him with the other top class leaders of that period; Imran Khan, Mark Taylor and Arjuna Ranatunga.

Unlike their predecessors as the number one ranked team -- (West Indies and Australia) -- India do not have a dominant attack. Considering that bowlers win matches, this makes Dhoni's performance even more meritorious; he's emulated Ranatunga in conjuring up a World Cup victory with a moderate attack.

Dhoni has smoothly switched to the Indian Premier League, where defending champions Chennai Super Kings have started with a victory.

No Challengers
As there's no indication India are on the verge of unearthing a couple of world-class bowlers and three of their best Test batsmen are closer to retirement, Dhoni has a serious challenge on his hands to keep the team at the top of the longer game rankings. However, he can take comfort from the fact that none of the stronger teams look likely to surge past India.

This is one of the reasons why the World Cup was so fascinating; all the teams were flawed. Consequently it was an extremely open tournament. With three consecutive World Cup finals [1999, 2003 & 2007] dominated by Australia, the tournament badly needed the upsets and strong finale that 2011 provided.

Spin trouble
India were also the most capable batting side against spinners. However, the World Cup exposed a worrying trend, of batsmen whose footwork is inadequate against spin bowling.

This is even more of a concern when you consider that, of the three great 21st century spinners, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, only the Sri Lankan was in attendance; and by the end of the tournament, he was virtually on one leg. There seems to be a train of thought amongst batsmen from some countries that it's less dangerous to employ all manner of zany, premeditated shots, than it is to counter spin bowling with sharp footwork. This kind of warped thinking is either a product of poor early coaching or lazy batting, or more likely a combination of both.

Whilst this was a successful World Cup, the ICC should always be looking for ways to improve it. The introduction of a qualifying tournament and the distribution of a paper by Indian coaches on how to teach young batsmen the correct footwork against spin bowling would be a step in the right direction.

Sufficient Distinction,Rewards for Team India

Laurels and rewards flowed for the Indian cricket team on Sunday, a day after it won the World Cup, with several state governments announcing cash awards and other incentives for the members of the victorious squad. President Pratibha Patil felicitated the team and shook hands with each player at a "high tea" on the lawns of the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.

Patil and her husband, Devisingh Shekhawat shook hands with each Indian player, starting with skipper M.S. Dhoni.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan announced a special award of Rs.1 crore each for Maharashtra players Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan.

He also announced a reward for the Maharashtrian support staff in the Indian team which would match the award by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The BCCI had on Saturday announced a reward of Rs.1 crore to each member of the winning squad and Rs.50 lakh to each of the support staff.

The railway ministry announced on Sunday that members of the team will be given lifetime complimentary passes to travel by air-conditioned first class.

The passes will be available to the players along with one companion for unlimited free travel in the country, the ministry said in a press statement.

Congratulating the team after their win on Saturday, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had appealed to the central government to declare Monday a national holiday to celebrate the achievement.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda announced in Ranchi that land would be allotted to local boy Dhoni to set up a cricket academy and school here.

The Jharkhand government also said it would confer an honorary doctorate on Dhoni - who is yet to complete his graduation.

Dhoni, 29, is doing his graduation from St. Xavier's College in Ranchi. He has been unable to complete the course due to his tight schedule.

Jharkhand earlier gifted a 4,000 sq feet plot and a Rs.11 lakh car to Dhoni when India won the T20 World Cup in 2007.

The Jharkhand unit of the Congress demanded India's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna be conferred on local boy Mahendra Singh Dhoni for leading India to victory in the cricket World Cup after 28 years.

Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa announced that his government will allot free housing sites in the city to each of the 15 members of the Indian cricket squad that won the World Cup.

The documents will be presented to the 15 team members at a special function the state government will hold at the imposing Vidhana Soudha at the earliest.

The government plans to get in touch with the team through the BCCI to organise the function in Bangalore on a date convenient to them after the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL).

The Delhi government announced cash rewards of Rs.2 crore for Dhoni and Rs.1 crore each for the four Delhi players in the World Cup winning squad - Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra and Virat Kohli.

"Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has announced reward of Rs.2 crore for captain M.S. Dhoni, and Rs.1 crore each for Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra, and Virat Kohli," a statement from the government said:

Gambhir was the highest run getter in India's six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka Saturday with his 97.

The Punjab government also announced cash rewards for Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh, while Gujarat said it will confer its highest sports award, "Eklavya Puruskar" on Munaf Patel and Yusuf Pathan, who hail from the state. The award comprises Rs.1 lakh, a memento and a certificate of honour.

Rajpal advises Dhoni to be always cool and aggressive

MS Dhoni knows how emotional India’s cricket-crazy janta can get. A defeat in the World Cup final may not hurt them as much as a loss to Pakistan would! Ditto with hockey. Despite the waning interest — err, isn’t it our national game? —it can’t get bigger than an India-Pakistan match.

For the record, the Indian hockey team defeated the Pakistan outfit on four occasions last year, losing just once (SAF Games in Dhaka). Starting with the World Cup, the Rajpal Singh-led unit registered wins in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, the Commonwealth Games and, finally, at the Asian Games to cap off an excellent 4-1 head-to-head record in 2010.

“We were under huge pressure before the World Cup. It was the opening match of the tournament and the build-up to the event was marred by controversies. However, 20 minutes into the game, the momentum was clearly on our side.

“And there was no looking back. Fans gathered at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi also played their part and we beat Pakistan 4-1. In the process, we also avenged the loss we suffered in the Champions Challenge in 2009,” India captain Rajpal Singh told DNA on Sunday.

Right frame of mind
The sardar wants Team India to be in the right frame of mind. “There were times when thoughts of the humiliating 1-7 defeat to Pakistan (1982 Asian Games) crossed our minds.

“That loss led to the downfall of hockey in our country. However, we tried to be positive during our training sessions and eventually won the match,” he recalled.

Avoid media, focus on plans
National coach Harendra Singh believes the players should stay away from the media. “I advised my players not to read the papers or follow the news channels. The incessant coverage adds pressure and buckles you down,” he said. He feels the players should distance themselves from the world and should concentrate on their plans. “It is important that you not let the expectations of a billion people affect your game,” the coach said.

And when the opposition is Pakistan, there are bound to be heated moments on the field. The coach clearly remembers the war of words between Gautam Gambhir and Shahid Afridi during the third ODI at Kanpur in 2007. “Such moments will be common during the semifinal game as Pakistan are an emotional side and they play with a lot of aggression. But I always tell my boys to play aggressively, not talk or abuse aggressively,” he added.

The former India defender recollected an incident during the Junior Asia Cup in 2004. “We were playing in Karachi and some boys from their camp were needling us. They even abused us and two of our boys lost their temper. However, we regrouped, decided to focus on the task at hand and managed to lift the trophy.”

Don’t lose your cool
Meanwhile, Rajpal said he makes it a point to keep his cool whenever India meet Pakistan. “I play aggressively against Australia and Holland. I have had a few altercations against these teams, but never against Pakistan. In any case, the atmosphere is volatile,” he said. Says Harendra, “I show my players a couple of scenes from the movie Border, play videos of Dhanraj Pillay’s electric moves and the famous Lata Mangeshkar number, Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon. It fires them up.”

While the melody queen’s inspirational song did the trick for the hockey team, ironically, it will be India’s ‘hockey anthem’, Chak De India, which will be blaring at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.

M S Dhoni falls down to No 7 on Facebook, Twitter; Sachin Tendulkar leads the chart

The Cricket World Cup has created a lot of buzz on the internet, but the most valuable cricket celebrity, Indian captain M S Dhoni , seems to be losing his appeal in social media even as brands are trying to join in online world cup talks.

Dhoni is ranked only seventh in the list of players most talked about on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs in the first three weeks of cricket's showpiece event, says a study by NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey company specialising in social media intelligence.

He was fourth before the start of the tournament on February 19.

Among brands, Pepsi is leading in social media interactions around the world cup, but some other official sponsors such as Hero Honda, Castrol and Yahoo! are trailing non-sponsors like Nokia, Adidas and Sony.

"Some brands have managed to keep their social media campaigns far more dynamic by altering content and stimulus during the course of the tournament," Nielsen India's Media MD Farshad Family said. Online buzz occurs when a person or brand or topic comes up in several social media interactions. The more times a name is discussed, the higher the buzz.

To measure it, NM Incite studied world cup related messages on blogs, message boards, groups, videos and image sites, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. It's like a Google search done on social networks with brands, cricketers and teams as key words along with cricket world cup. The Nielsen-McKinsey joint venture did it with a proprietary tool called Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

Top batsman Sachin Tendulkar continues to lead the chart, followed by Australian captain Ricky Pointing , Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi and English medium pacer Stuart Broad .

Among marketers, Pepsi dominates with more than 17% share. "This is the first Cricket World Cup where social media has such kind of scale," PepsiCo India Executive Vice-President, Marketing, Sandeep Singh Arora said.

PepsiCo runs online contests for every match and it has mopped up over 9.2 lakh fans on its Facebook world cup page and more than 500 followers on Twitter.

"While they (social media users) form just 1% of our consumer base, they are evangelist or opinion leaders for our brands," Arora said. Pepsi is followed by handset maker Nokia and durables maker LG with 11% share each. Nokia is not an official partner. In fact, several non-sponsors have outdone some official World Cup sponsors, who have spent hundreds of crore for the rights, in online world cup campaigns. Take for instance Vodafone and Airtel, which have cornered 10% and 6% share, respectively, in online buzz compared to official partner Reliance Communications' 2%.

Ditto for official sponsor Reebok that has lost ground to Adidas in creating higher connect with World cup on social media networks in the first three weeks on the tournament.

While Adidas' association with Sachin Tendulkar must have helped, there are other triggers too. "We launched the pure cricket campaign almost a year before the tournament began, which helped us create a huge fan base," Adidas India Sales & Marketing Director Tushar Goculdas said.

The Adidas cricket Facebook page has more than 7 lakh fans now and counting.

"In today's world we need to acknowledge the presence of digital media, especially if the target audience is youth," LG India Chief Marketing Officer LK Gupta said. Before the world cup, LG had 50,000 fans on our Facebook page; today the numbers has gone up to 3.5 lakhs, he added. There are surprises for cricketing nations too. While no one thought of Ireland as worthy opponents to the Men in Blue on the cricket pitch, the minnows are ranked fifth among the teams that are discussed the most in social media.

India still leads the chart, but its share has dropped to 17% from more than 26% at the start of the tournament.

Now that the knockout stage has started, the buzz online is sure to heighten.