00:00Sometimes I agree that the players have become too big.
00:02Who's made them too big?
00:03In the end of the day, cricketers are simple people.
00:06But then they get...
00:07Everything gets blown out of proportion for them.
00:09Look, I think don't be critical of just Virat and Dhoni.
00:12I mean, Ashish Nehra is getting to decide.
00:18I wonder sometimes, Rahul,
00:20do you think players have become bigger than the game as a result?
00:23Of all the money...
00:25I call it democracy.
00:26But I just wonder whether the supremo cult has also come into cricket.
00:30Virat Kohli can decide who the coach of the team is.
00:33And as a result of that, I'm just wondering somewhere...
00:37Mahendra Singh Dhoni can probably decide when he wants to retire.
00:42We had a debate on Crick Info yesterday
00:44whether Dhoni should actually give up T20 cricket.
00:46And his feeling was he should.
00:48But the fact is that no one has dared tell
00:51Mahendra Singh Dhoni, boss, your time is up.
00:54I'm just wondering whether players have become so...
00:57Maybe I'm the romantic who's calling it democracy.
01:00Actually, the sport is now creating supremos and stars
01:03who are believed that they are bigger than the game.
01:05Is that true?
01:06Do you get a sense of that?
01:09Look, I think don't be critical of just Virat and Dhoni.
01:13I mean, Ashish Nehra is getting to decide.
01:17That's been very unfair.
01:18That's been very unfair to Virat and Dhoni.
01:26I mean, the supremos...
01:28So in the end, in the heart of it,
01:31a lot of the cricketers that you come from
01:33actually come from really humble, low, middle-class backgrounds.
01:38In the core of all of this, I mean, if you remove all of this,
01:40they're actually just middle-class, normal guys
01:44who grew up and then suddenly become heroes.
01:46And they become heroes thanks to people like you
01:49and satellite television and keeping on asking them for interviews.
01:55So writing books about them.
01:56So sometimes just to blame them for it.
02:04So it's a game that's made them heroes.
02:07It's not their fault.
02:08I mean, sometimes I read this over,
02:10players have become too big.
02:11Who's made them too big?
02:16It's very easy to say that.
02:18And a lot of other people have become rich by players being rich.
02:27I mean, let's face it.
02:30News channels want players there.
02:32They also sell ads.
02:34They're also making money off the ad.
02:36They're also putting on a program.
02:37I mean, it's reality.
02:38No, it's the fact of the fact.
02:39The matter is that.
02:41I just want to say, Rahul,
02:43all the proceeds from this book don't go to me.
02:45They're going to provide...
02:49No, they're going to provide sporting equipment to poor kids.
02:51No, I didn't mean this book.
02:54And it's great.
02:55And firstly, it's great they're doing that.
02:56So congratulations on that.
02:58And really well done.
02:58I think we need to appreciate that as well.
03:00So it's fantastic.
03:02And I don't...
03:04I'm kind of joking as well.
03:07It's just that, you know, what I'm saying is that
03:10in the end of the day, cricketers are simple people.
03:12But then they get sort of...
03:14Everything gets blown out of proportion for them.
03:15So then they have to, you know,
03:17you have to kind of lead that life.
03:19I mean, for me, you know,
03:20one of the things, the simple thing for me was
03:21I would love playing overseas.
03:23I would love playing outside India.
03:25And the only reason I love...
03:27One of the reasons I love doing it
03:28because I hated actually staying in my room.
03:30At the end of the day, I found like...
03:32I used to find it if I had to order room service
03:34or if I had to stay in my room,
03:35you know, I used to find it terrible.
03:36I loved going out.
03:37I loved walking on the streets.
03:38I found that really relaxing.
03:40I found that helped my performance the next day.
03:42But, you know, so when I was overseas
03:43and playing in England or playing in New Zealand
03:45or anywhere for that matter,
03:46you know, I never ordered room service.
03:48I would just come at the end of the day.
03:49You know, you'd have a shower and you'd ask the guys,
03:51okay, where do we go for a meal?
03:52Or let's figure out the best Thai or Italian
03:54or something nearby.
03:55And we'd, you know, walk around
03:56and we'd be able to do that.
03:58But today, but if you're playing in India, for example,
04:00you have a test match in Delhi or Bombay,
04:01you could not go down
04:02because there'd be so many people downstairs.
04:04And then, you know, if you went down,
04:05it would just be a nuisance.
04:07And you're sort of...
04:08Not that you're being rude,
04:10but there's just only so many requests
04:12that you can follow.
04:13And then it just becomes hard
04:15at the end of a day's play
04:16to sort of keep signing autographs
04:17or keep doing, as we say, selfies nowadays.
04:19Luckily, when I started,
04:20there were not that many selfies.
04:21But yeah, you know, the selfies or photographs,
04:24that gets hard and that gets tough.
04:25So then players, the thing is, they retreat
04:27and they go back into their cocoon
04:28and they go back into their rooms
04:29and they cover, they sort of shield themselves
04:31with agents and all of that.
04:33And that's, you know,
04:34just a reflection of the time they're in.
04:35It's not who they are.
04:37Like you said, if you take that all away,
04:39in the end of the day,
04:40and I work with these guys closely now
04:42at an A-team level,
04:43so I get to really see who they really are.
04:45And they're not very different from who we are.
04:48You know, there is a certain difference,
04:49which is a changing of the times.
04:50And that's great.
04:52But deep down, people haven't changed.
04:54You didn't answer my question.
04:55Should the captain get to choose the coach?
04:58Should a player decide when he wants to retire?
05:02You know, you don't have to write a book to say that.
05:04You just have to tell me what you think.
05:06See, that's what a good journalist is.
05:08I gave a long winding answer,
05:10thinking he'll just forget
05:11what he was really asking.
05:14He'll answer something else.
05:19What's the answer?
05:21Look, I think in the end of the day,
05:23I don't know the specifics of that particular issue.
05:25And it definitely shouldn't have got played out
05:28in the way that it did.
05:29I think the whole thing got played out in the media,
05:31which is very, very unfortunate for Anil.
05:33And not fair on him at all.
05:35So, you know, what's the reality of it?
05:36What happens behind closed doors?
05:37I think, you know, I'm not privy to
05:39and I don't want to comment and access.
05:40But what I do want to say is that
05:42that was definitely an unfortunate episode.
05:44And especially for someone like Anil,
05:46who's been an absolute legend of the game.
05:48And someone who's done more to win test matches
05:55for India than anybody I know, you know.
05:57So, and a successful year as a coach as well.
06:00So, I think it was an unfortunate thing for him.
06:02See, coaches get sacked.
06:03I mean, the first thing you know is
06:04when you leave, stop becoming a player
06:06and you become a coach,
06:07is that someday you are going to get sacked.
06:09I think that's the reality.
06:10All coaches get sacked.
06:11So, I know that as an India U-19 coach,
06:13at some stage, I am going to get the boot.
06:15Somebody's going to get the sack, right?
06:16But that's the reality.
06:18But you know, just the way that it played out.
06:19And all coaches get sacked.
06:20Some football managers get sacked after two games.
06:23You know, so it just happens.
06:24I mean, as a coach, you realize that
06:25in the end of the day,
06:26players are more powerful than coaches.
06:28And that's the reality.
06:29We were more powerful than the coaches when we played.
06:31You know, that's the reality of the issue as well.
06:33But the fact is that it should never have got played out
06:36in the way that it did, you know, publicly.
06:38And should captains, should players choose
06:40when they can retire?
06:42I think that's being unfair, you know.
06:43How do we know Dhoni is choosing
06:44when he wants to retire?
06:46Again, players should never have to choose
06:49when they can retire or when they shouldn't retire.
06:50That is a selector's call.
06:52But again, a lot of these things
06:54aren't necessarily played out correctly.
06:56Just because someone says something in the media
06:58and people say something,
07:00it says that, oh, Dhoni is choosing
07:01when he wants to retire.
07:02I don't think that's…
07:03You might have an opinion Dhoni is not good enough.
07:05I'm sorry.
07:10You might. You might not.
07:11I might have an opinion.
07:12You know, Trey might say,
07:13no, I think Dhoni deserves to play the World Cup
07:15and he'll give you a good enough example for it.
07:17And in the end of the day,
07:18you have three or four…
07:19You have three selectors who make that decision.
07:22You have a captain and you'll have a coach
07:23who are making that decision.
07:24And you have to trust them
07:25to make the right decision.
07:26And if they feel that Dhoni is good enough,
07:29irrespective of what other people may feel,
07:31then, you know, he has every right to play till,
07:33I guess, whenever he wants.
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