It is quite a popular fact that former India captain MS Dhoni almost never keeps the door of his hotel room locked, and that players can walk in freely to have a talk or two with him on topics from any walk of life. Such a warm individual, one might believe, would be available for people more often than not. But, there’s a catch.
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As paradox as he is, once you are not in his vicinity, you are all in likeliness of going through a tough time getting hold of him for a mere telephonic conversation. Reason? The man hardly carries his mobile phone along with him.
So doesn’t matter if you are a veteran journalist or broadcaster with years of experience under your belt, a fellow teammate as big in stature as VVS Laxman, or even the biggest Hindi movie star of the nation in Amitabh Bachchan, Dhoni can remain inaccessible to the biggest names without any discrimination.
MS Dhoni Was Unavailable To Receive VVS Laxman’s Retirement News
Dhoni’s above mentioned habit has also found him at the receiving end of controversies – the biggest of them all was around Laxman’s retirement from the highest level 11 years ago. For the unversed, Laxman had retired from international cricket on August 18, 2012, just a few days ahead of New Zealand’s tour of India.
With the first Test scheduled to be played in his hometown in Hyderabad, the timing of the announcement and the fact that he was unable to foster communication and inform then-India captain Dhoni about his imperative career-related decision had erupted into a huge disputation in the media. A huge section of the media had went on to claim that Laxman, in fact, blamed Dhoni for his supposed sudden decision to retire during the press conference.
“I did try to get in touch with [MS] Dhoni, but, as you know, it’s very difficult to reach him,” Laxman had remarked during the presser.
Dhoni had found himself at the receiving end of all the accusations being hurled at him for having allegedly forced a decorated cricketer to hang his boots. However, during an interaction with Sports Tak in December 2018, Laxman had cleared the mist around a needless controversy, and exclaimed how his comments back then were quoted out of proportion.
“In the evening when I went for the press conference, a journalist had asked me if I had informed my friends and colleagues about my retirement decision. I replied in the affirmative. The next question he had asked was whether I had informed Dhoni or not. I said that I had called Dhoni, but his phone was not reachable.
“The statement was made in fun as I remember once Amitabh Bachchan had tweeted that it is very difficult to reach Dhoni. So, those words of mine were quoted out of proportion and people went on to claim that the reason for my retirement decision had to do with my disappointment and frustration with Dhoni.”
MS Dhoni Had Missed Amitabh Bachchan’s Messages Twice
Interestingly, people from outside the cricketing world have also been victim to Dhoni not using a mobile phone. Mega star Bachchan, a huge admirer of Dhoni and vice-versa, had tried contacting him twice after he was awarded the Padma Shree in 2009.
In what should have been a huge thing – receiving a congratulatory message from one of his favourite actors, certainly only a man as carefree and detached as Dhoni would find no time to respond to an Amitabh Bachchan.
Revealing the same via his blog on Bigadda.com a few days later, Bachchan had mentioned how he had even complained to actor John Abraham (Dhoni’s good friend) about the same.
“Knowing his closeness to Dhoni, I complain to John [Abraham] about Mahi [MS Dhoni] not responding to the message of greeting I had sent him on his decoration of the Padma Shree. He [John] says he shall connect me immediately right away. I stop him. Ask him to look up at the TV – Chennai [Super Kings] is playing Rajasthan Royals and Dhoni is very much on the field – IN SOUTH AFRICA!!”
Bachchan had further written how he even contacted former India spinner Harbhajan Singh (who was also honoured with the very award the same year) to pass on his greetings to Dhoni, but yet again to no avail. The reply never arrived!
