You Would Be In Tears Once You Know The Reason Why Dhoni Collects Stumps After His Win!

MS Dhoni, the Indian cricket captain sounds quite confident on the eve of T20 campaign. After the convincing win of India in the warm-up match against West Indies on Thursday in Kolkata, Dhoni spoke about the things that set his team apart and joked about his habit of collecting stumps.

When Dhoni was asked why he collects stumps from the pitch and takes it with him, he says that he has his post-cricket plans. He says “I don’t mark the stumps that I collect. (Post-retirement) I’d watch the matches, look at the stumps and say ‘ok, this is from that match’. I have enough to keep me occupied for years.” However, there is a different theory attached to it.

Why does Dhoni collect stumps?

Dhoni has given the same answer before too. However, there is a story which not many people know. The Indian captain was studying at Shyamali’s DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir (Ranchi) and that time he belonged to a very middle class family. He had a best friend named Kulbinder Singh, the son of his school’s Nepali watchman. At that time, Dhoni used to play Badminton and football and wasn’t interested in Cricket. Kulbinder used to play galli cricket with his friends. An inter-collegiate badminton tournament was organized by the school and around 50 schools had participated. Dhoni was in the team and he entered the finals too. He invited Kulbinder for viewing the match. The game was in its final stage when Dhoni tried lifting a shot, which led to the shuttlecock crossing the court and landing outside the stadium. He lost the match and his coach was very angry. But it was Kulbinder who brainwashed Dhoni and made him realize his interest in cricket. Kulbinder is still poor and still Dhoni is indebted to him. He offered lakhs of Rupees to his friend but Kulbinder didn’t accept money. Instead he told Dhoni to get 320 cricket stumps for him so that a fence can be constructed around the house. So this is the reason why Dhoni is collecting it.

Virat Kohli relishing being India's go-to man

"I think that break really helped me focus again and continue what I did in Australia," said Kohli. © Getty

At 28, Virat Kohli, is slowly asserting himself as one of India's greatest batsmen of all time. He has scored runs in all formats and in all parts of the world. The England tour in 2014 turned out to be a minor blip, but the man came back in the way only he can, scoring more and more runs.

A successful Australian tour in 2014-15, followed by a personally impressive World Cup and Kohli was back to his best. He has now become a run machine, has left his peers way behind and has earned the admiration of his teammates. In short, Kohli is in the middle of a wonderful purple patch and is in the form of his life.

Named as India's Test captain after the retirement of MS Dhoni, Kohli has taken to the task with relish. His out and out aggressive policy was lauded in Australia and it came as no surprise when he led India to a convincing 2-1 series victory during the tour of Sri Lanka. It was then followed by a stunning 3-0 hammering of South Africa at home, a result that catapulted India to number one in the ICC Test ranking for a while.

"I am happy I am contributing at the right times for the team," Virat told bcci.tvon Sunday (March 6) after helping India clinch the Asia Cup, beating Bangladesh by a comfortable eight-wicket margin in the final. Kohli had played his part as well, his consistency being one of the major factors in India's title triumph.

"There were a lot of speculations about me when I took rest for the tour against Sri Lanka. There were all sorts of articles and things written about me questioning whether it was a right move to rest at that point of time. There was a lot of negativity around that decision that was made, but I knew that mentally I needed a break and needed to refresh myself and comeback and do the same thing over and over again.

"Good habits are really hard to create and once you get them, you need to be in full flow and continue them day in and day out. I think that break really helped me focus again and continue what I did in Australia. I am really glad I could contribute in all the games here."

""Good habits are really hard to create and once you get them, you need to be in full flow and continue them day in and day out." © Getty

While his batting has come a long way, it's his ability to innovate without taking risks, find the gaps in the field and the sheer consistency, which has stood apart. "It is very important to assess the field," Kohli said, as he began to dissect his batting. "I have seen people mark fielders on the ground and I never understood why till I actually started paying attention to these minute details. As a batsman, you actually calculate how far you can hit the ball from the fielder. If you hit it really well, even 10 meters is good enough distance to beat the fielder even if the fielder moves sideways or has some kind of lateral movement on the field.

"It is very important to judge where the fielders are so that you can pick your gaps and execute what you want to. You have a clearer plan when you know where the fielders are and you can hit the ball in the gaps rather than just taking a risk and trying to hit over the line. Hitting the ball over the line is a chance you take, but once you are hitting the gaps, it is very important to know where the fielder is standing."

With Kohli firing on all cylinders and the team playing at home, can India go on and become the first team to win the ICC World T20 at home? Only time will tell but one thing is for sure, the batsman will have a key role to play in India's campaign.

via- Cricbuzz

India-Pakistan clash will go on in Dharamsala: WT20 director

© Getty

Amidst heavy speculation, MV Sridhar, the World T20 2016 tournament director, stated on Tuesday (March 8) that the marquee clash between India and Pakistan will go on in Dharamsala as per schedule on March 19.

"The match is on. The state and central governments are on board and all security arrangements have been made," Sridhar said after a meeting with MK Singla, Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry.

According to a PTI report, Singla said that the team of officials from Pakistan which had visited Dharamsala after security concerns cropped up recently, has expressed satisfaction at the arrangements made in the stadium as well as hotels. Singla also stated that Kangra District Magistrate and local Inspector General of Police assured full protection to players and the venue.

Sridhar, however, conceded that a few more issues are yet to be sorted out and said that stated that discussions with Home Ministry officials remained inconclusive in that regard. He, however, did not divulge what those 'issues'.

Sridhar, who is also general manager of cricket operations of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, was accompanied by Neeraj Kumar, the Indian Premier League anti-corruption and security unit head and former Delhi Police Commissioner, and a few other BCCI officials. Representatives of Himachal Pradesh government were also present.

via- Cricbuzz