BCCI's PR Coup: It's Dhoni's Choice to Stay Away

By John Cheeran
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), it seems, has dramatically improved its Public Relations (PR) and it showed when it handled the vacation for its one-day skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Before the selection committee got together to pick the side, Ratnakar Shetty, one of the BCCI officials, has said that Dhoni himself has pulled out of the Test series in Sri Lanka. That makes the life easier for chairman of selection committee while explaining his picks later in the day to the Indian media.
Whatever the spin, whether Dhoni pulls out of the race for runs and dollars, or the BCCI taking the youngster’s reasoning to its logical conclusion, the fact remains that the cricket showbiz will go on waiting for none in the process. Dhoni and Pepsi, his principal sponsors, will have to accept this and take it easy.
But sport, and cricket, is a strange beast, as much as life is. Some of the vacations of athletes are not a choice, but inevitable. Ask the soldiers of cricket, the fast bowlers. In professional sport, injuries can happen at any moment, and you cannot do anything about it.
There is always a life outside of cricket too.
Dhoni has a right to think beyond the boundaries but such a decision is always fraught with the danger of being ignored too soon by the madding crowd and the manipulators in the boardroom.
One should, however, note that Dhoni has contributed a great deal in writing a new chapter in Indian cricket history. It is for the first time a leading, unhurt Indian cricketer stays away from the circus, and if we can believe Dhoni, of his own choice.
Sourav Ganguly was dropped.
Rahul Dravid was dropped.
Even Kapil Dev and Lala Amarnath were dropped.
All of them were fit and eager to play when they were ignored by the Indian board.
I wish the luck stays on with Dhoni. May be like Samson, Dhoni should grow his hair back to recover his energy.
Mind it!