Journalists often walk a fine line between asking the tough, fair questions and sounding hostile. In the estimation of M.S. Dhoni, one reporter tilted towards the latter, prompting the India skipper to shut him down with the ferocity of one of his sixes.
Here is an excerpt of what happened at the press conference after India narrowly defeated Bangladesh on Wednesday:
Reporter (speaking in Hindi): “Before the match, there was talk of India winning by a big margin, that we (India) should increase our net run-rate, and that we should win by 50 runs. But you only barely managed to win. So how do you rate this performance? My second question is...”
Dhoni (interrupting): “One minute. I know that you aren’t happy that India won. (At this point, the shocked mediaperson says: “No, no, sir...”, but he is cut short by Dhoni again). Listen to me. Your tone and your question say that you aren’t happy with this result, okay? As far as India winning this match is concerned, there is no script.
“You (reporter) have to analyse how after losing the toss — and on what type of wicket we batted — what the reasons were for why we didn’t make a lot of runs. If you don’t analyse all these things off the field, then you shouldn’t ask these questions.”
After bashing his ‘first delivery’ out of the park, Dhoni went on to collect easy singles for the rest of the night.
