For Dhoni, how his team plays matters most

but when I was talking to Dhoni, the winning captain, it felt like I was talking to the losing captain.

Dhoni wasn’t very happy after the game that sent his team to the top of the table. Why?

Because that’s what Dhoni is, that’s what makes him so special; you often hear him talking about processes and how that’s important and not so much the results.

You might think it’s one of the cliched things captains say on public platforms; but no, Dhoni genuinely believes in this and hence his grumpiness after a win.

Dhoni wasn’t pleased that despite scoring 211, the opposition came so close to the target, and CSK won by only 13 runs. This shows how much how you play matters to Dhoni, than who won. No wonder he was so calm after he almost pulled off a miraculous win single-handedly against Kings XI. CSK fell short by four runs with Dhoni playing one of his best IPL innings. He must have been quite satisfied with the ‘process’, his effort in particular, even if the result didn’t go his way. It’s being almost robotic to believe in this principle and to be able to live by it. If AB seems like he is from another planet during his breathtaking innings, Dhoni seems the same with his great mind.

So much has happened in the DD camp last week. Gambhir quits as captain, then he is also not in the playing 11 and it’s left to a young Shreyas Iyer to lead.

Such a tender age to do it; I guess DD had no other options. I believe DD would have been better served if Gambhir had continued as captain and took a floating position in the batting. Gambhir at this stage of his career is great value as captain and I thought DD bid for him for that reason.

But it’s nice to see Iyer’s batting not getting too affected by it. He is really maturing quickly as a limited-overs batsman and can be a good No 4 or 5 for India to have.

For, after all the hoopla around the IPL that’s what you want in the end, isn’t it? It helping produce quality players for India.