Published: Feb 06, 2015, 12:14 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 06, 2015, 12:35 PM (IST)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is known for remaining calm approach, even under pressure. But, in a rare show of emotion, he could not hold back his tears after winning the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup.
In The Cricket Fanatic’s Essential Guide, authored by Vimal Kumar, Dhoni says: “In the dressing room, everyone was crying. And everybody means everybody — all the 15 players, the support staff and everyone else associated with the team. In that sense, we really connected in the World Cup.”
It was dream come true for Team India against mounting public expectations. Explains Dhoni in the book, “The pressure kept mounting on us as people’s expectations were increasing with every win. They thought the quarter-final against Australia was the biggest game. And once we won that, there was an even bigger game against Pakistan in the semi-final. You know what happens with India-Pakistan games in the World Cup… people will keep telling you that this is the real final. And then, when we won that, we were aware of what was now expected from us. As much as we tried to divert the issue, the pressure we went through was a lot.”
Dhoni could not eat food after winning the final and talks about the flow of massive emotions, “At times, there would be food before the players and they wouldn’t feel like eating it, due to anxiety. We Indians are emotional people and the emotion was released after we won the Cup. It also shows how much it meant to us. People talk about money flowing into cricket and everything, and you think that you will never see India players crying because they have a big contract. But we all were so passionate about winning the trophy. Money can never bring the immense joy of being part of a World Cup-winning team.”
The 33-year-old Dhoni added, “I never thought I would cry after a win, but we all did. The world can’t see those emotions of the players because you don’t have the footage of that, but it summed up the mood of that night.”
