There is a reason why Indian skipper MS Dhoni was asked how he handles 'off the field' issues as captain in the press conference ahead of their Super Eights clash against Australia on Friday.
There is immense speculation across TV channels and newspapers that Virender Sehwag, after being 'rested' for the final group game against England, is unhappy at being told that he will be left out of the final XI for subsequent games. The reporters here read every bit of the body language being displayed by Sehwag on the eve of the match against the Aussies.
The star bat from Delhi, of course, himself fuelled a fair bit of speculation by not choosing to bat at the nets on Tuesday, despite having no fitness concerns.
Dhoni's way to deal with this needless 'road show' is simple. "The most important thing is how understanding your teammates are. There are a lot of things that happen outside the ground, but all these should be ignored. There is a lot of stress in international cricket. So, instead of focusing on the wrong things, it makes more sense to focus on the right areas like the nets or the cricketing skills," he said.
"No newspapers, no news channels, no phones for me. I feel it's important to be thinking in the right direction, but it's up to every individual. The energy that we are spending right now, it's most important that we spend it on cricketing aspects."
The skipper now has to take a call on who to leave out against the Aussies. To overcome the handicap of a poor bowling attack, he played five bowlers on Sunday night against England and asked seniors pros Sehwag and Zaheer to 'rest'. The experiment more or less worked, though Irfan Pathan flopped in Sehwag's slot. Now, does he continue playing five bowlers, or keep Sehwag and Zaheer out again?
"It is one of the toughest decisions I have taken so far. We will have to see what fits the combinations. Ultimately the decision we take has to be a good one that benefits the team," Dhoni said.
"We will most likely go in with five bowlers, but I still don't know what the combination will be. It will be a fresh wicket and we have to take into consideration how it will be before the start of the match," was all he would divulge.
Tackling the bouncer in these conditions shouldn't be a big ask, and Dhoni was right when he said that Pat Cummins' threats of bombarding India with short balls shouldn't be taken seriously.
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