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Mahendra Singh Dhoni whose middle name is Mr Cool illustrates the ability to remain calm and composed in an intense situation and has innumerable times pulled the Indian team out of a predicament. His jersey number 7 evokes the picture of captain cool in the minds of millions of Indian cricket fans ipso facto and such was the effect of his presence that remains to this day.
Known as the Finisher, Thala, Mr Cool and Mahi by his fans and teammates, he is a captain that every team wishes they had, the cricketing virtuoso that did wonders in bringing glory to India in the form of ICC trophies that had long eluded India such as the inaugural T20 World Cup trophy, ICC 50 overs World Cup trophy and the ICC Champions League trophy, he has done it all aside from being the most successful captain for his franchise team Chennai Super Kings.
No superstition but a belief
The jersey number 7 is famous worldwide and is a number that goes on the back of football great Cristiano Ronaldo. MS Dhoni is another cricket great with the number 7 jersey, the reason captain cool opted for the number that is attached to many sporting legends has nothing to do with superstition but a rather simplistic reason which can be traced from his date of birth – 7 July 1981.
Dhoni revealed, “Rather than getting to all the different things as to what a number is a good number and all, I thought I will use my date of birth as the number.”
Dhoni also disclosed he added variations to his answers the more people asked him about the reason behind his jersey number “Then whenever people kept asking me, I kept adding to the answer. 81 was the year, 8-1 is again 7, 7 is a very neutral number. People actually kept telling me, I started absorbing it and I started telling it to others in the same way."
On further revelation, Dhoni made clear that he is not a superstitious person, but the number 7 is something that is close to his heart.
“A lot of people said 7 is a neutral number and even if it doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t really go against you. That also I added to my answer. I am not very superstitious about it, but it is one number that is close to my heart and I have kept it over the years with me," he added.
Routine over superstition
Dhoni having made no secrets about the fact that he is not superstitious also laid bare that he does not believe in superstitions strongly as he is not very good with his memory that is not retentive for superstitions. Dhoni was quoted saying in the Indian cricket heroes awards ceremony.
“I think most of the cricketers are superstitious about a lot of things and we call it more routine than anything else. We keep figuring out it was a left leg or right leg, I was also somebody like okay when I go inside the field I would take left leg then after a while I got confused whether it was a left leg or right leg?”
“I am better when I have more options, the moment I have two options I get confused. There was a time when I lost 29 out of 32 or 33 tosses and most of the Test matches were in India. A lot of times I would go and okay I will be like okay I want to change what I have called and it was during IPL and I was like okay I don’t remember what I called in the last game, every time it was new to me,” he mentioned.
It is fair to say that the man with the fastest hands behind the stumps has a memory like a sieve which forbids him from believing in any kind of superstition to stick to.
The jinx of good luck
But wait, Dhoni may after all believe in a bizarre superstition that forbids him from wishing his teammate well as revealed by Pragyan Ojha.
Shocking yet Dhoni’s former teammate lets out Dhoni’s lesser-known side of believing in a superstition that may leave you scratching your head as to why must that be something Dhoni does.
While what is seen as customary is to wish someone good luck or all the best to anyone before we take on anything challenging, MS stands averse to such wishes before the start of any game as revealed by the former cricketer Pragyan Ojha.
The former Indian spinner who was part of the defunct IPL winning team Deccan Chargers shared that Dhoni believes wishing his teammate luck before the match has led to the consequence of the match not ending in their favour and being ‘very different’.
“MSD will never wish his team members ‘all the best’ or ‘good luck before a game. Because he feels, if he wishes somebody quite a few players he has wished during a game, it ended up in a very different way. That’s maybe why he has stopped it,” said Ojha in a chat with Sports Today.
In a conversation about their sentiments with MS Dhoni, Ojha let us in on more about his superstitious side that neither Dhoni wishes any of his teammates or opponents good luck nor the opposition side ever approaches him to wish him luck.
“Once we had a conversation about people having different kinds of sentiments and that’s when he said he never wishes his players before a game. And before the game, none of the players from the opposition to go him. They don’t want any wishes from him,” concluded Ojha.
