Dhoni's goodbye gift to Sachin: Keeping things normal

The press box is oversubscribed, tickets are at a premium, the farewell is being planned in great detail ahead of Sachin Tendulkar’s final two Tests. But if Mahendra Singh Dhoni has his way – he most probably will – there won’t be a mention of all that in the Indian dressing room. “We have to keep it as normal as possible… There will be distractions, but we’d all like to make this series special. It will be an achievement if we succeed in not making Sachin feel as if the two Tests are his last,” said Dhoni in an exclusive interview to The Telegraph. “Basically, in the dressing room, we’ve got to keep things calm. We can control what happens there, we can’t control what happens outside.” [caption id=“attachment_1210869” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Dhoni wants to keep things as normal as possible. PTI[/caption] Indeed, the Indian team is going to approach the Test series in the best way possible – by talking only about the cricket. There are some who still mention that a farewell series against South Africa – the world’s No 1 Test team – would perhaps have been more fitting. But Dhoni disagrees. “Isn’t it great that Sachin’s retiring at home? He’s giving fans the opportunity to bid him farewell and he’s also given himself the chance to say ‘thank you’. Look, we can get emotional, but there comes a time when everybody has to retire. Let’s focus on the ovation one should give Sachin,” Dhoni said in the interview. And what an ovation it will be. In a piece on Firstpost, Tom Alter had written about how to the very end, Tendulkar should remain himself. And that’s what sets him apart for Dhoni too. “Sachin’s ability to calmly carry the expectations of well over a billion people… The way he prepares for matches, giving himself every chance to succeed… Retaining the hunger despite achieving so much… His eagerness… These are amazing qualities and playing with Sachin has been a blessing,” said Dhoni. Finally, Dhoni spoke about Sachin’s decision to retire. “Sachin must have given it a lot of thought, for such decisions aren’t taken casually. At the end of the day, you have to respect the call he made. It’s in our hands to make his last two Tests special… We’d like to win the series for Sachin and, hopefully, he’ll get loads of runs. We’ll do our bit, he’ll have to do his!” Read the full interview in the Telegraph here