In a cash-rich game like cricket, where everything is at stake, it’s natural for the players to be a little superstitious.
While legendary Sachin Tendulkar used to put his left pad first, the former Australian captain Steve Waugh always carried a red handkerchief in his pocket given to him by his grandmother.
Virender Sehwag wore a numberless jersey before the World Cup 2011, which sure paid dividends to him, and his opening partner Gautam Gambhir didn’t take off his pads unless the innings of his team were over.
Talking about superstitions, the former Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha has revealed that the two times World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni never wishes his players a good luck before any match. Though this sounds bizarre, Ojha went on to reveal the reason behind Captain Cool’s superstition.
Currently a member of the IPL’s governing body, Ojha said that whenever Dhoni wished any player ‘good luck’, the result turned out to be quite contrary to what he had expected. Incidents like these led the world’s greatest finisher to ward off the ‘good luck’ wishes.
“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 his players during a game, it ended up in a very different way. That’s maybe why he has stopped it,” said Ojha to Sports Today.
The left-arm spinner added that even none of the opposition players ever come to Dhoni for his wishes before a game.
“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,” clarified Ojha.
Even cricketer-turned-commentator Deep Dasgupta once disclosed that Dhoni used to keep the pen with himself after signing the match ball for IPL fans.
It looks like Dhoni’s superstition is working in his favour as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are currently placed at the third position in the points table after winning two out of their three clashes.
