MS Dhoni’s press conferences are an event, as much of an event as when he is batting. They are also rare – and ultimately limited – windows into him; because he hardly ever gives interviews, these are about the only interactions he has with the press.
He has held more than a few very eventful ones too, not least in this World Twenty20. After India's one-run win over Bangladesh, he reprimanded a journalist at the press conference for the tone he was asking a question in.
On Thursday night, however, he took the art of his press conference to new levels. One of the questions that has been asked of Dhoni over the last few months is about his future: how long does he plan to play on for.
It is an eminently reasonable question, given he is 34, has played for over a decade in all three formats, has won everything there is to win and now has a ready-and-waiting successor in Virat Kohli.
He has expressed his unhappiness about being asked this repeatedly and gradually people have stopped asking him. But after a semi-final loss to West Indies, and with no limited overs cricket on the schedule for India for some time now, he was asked again at the post-match presser, this time by an Australian journalist.
In fact, he was asked only how keen he was to play on now. Instead of responding, Dhoni first called the journalist to sit next to him at the press conference table. With an arm around his shoulder, Dhoni asked the journalist whether he had seen Dhoni’s running and thought he was fit enough to play on till 2019.
The journalist said yes and Dhoni said you have your answer. Most of the people there enjoyed it thoroughly. But it was a strange and awkward interaction, almost unbecoming of Dhoni, but revealing perhaps as we edge (maybe) towards the end of his career.
How difficult was it for him to simply say “no comment” instead of turning it into such a scene?
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