Posts Tagged ‘M.S. Dhoni’

M S Dhoni awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna

Monday, August 4th, 2008

New Delhi: India’s One-day and Twenty20 cricket captain MS Dhoni will be awarded the country’s highest sporting honour — the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

Dhoni becomes only the second cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar to be given the honour. Tendulkar won the award in 1997-98.

Dhoni led India’s Twenty20 team to a memorable win at the World Cup in South Africa, and followed it up by leading a young team to victory in the One-day tri-series in Australia.

There had been speculation that the BCCI hadn’t sent Dhoni’s form in time but that issue was resolved.

Twenty-seven-year-old Dhoni took over as India’s One-day captain after Rahul Dravid resigned in 2007.

Among other prominent sportspersons to have won the honour are Vishwanathan Anand (chess), Leander Paes (tennis), Geet Sethi (billiards), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (shooting) and Dhanraj Pillay (hockey).

I want captaincy, not rift with Dhoni: Yuvraj

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

New Delhi:He continues to harbour hopes of captaining the Indian cricket team some day but Yuvraj Singh insists that being overlooked for the job has not created any rift between him and incumbent M S Dhoni and speculation about a rivalry between the two is baseless."I think things like rivalry and confrontations are talks stirred up by the media. Me and Dhoni are very good friends and help each other at any time because we understand how the game has to be played," Yuvraj said in a TV interview.However Yuvraj admitted that he still desires to lead the team but would never let his personal ambitions come in the way of team’s good."It is an honour to captain the Indian cricket team, I also wish to be the captain but the most important thing is to do what is good for the team and what are your goals as a team. I think, what the team wants is more important than personal desires," he explained.Yuvraj, who led the race for captaincy before Dhoni was surprisingly handed the reins, said Dhoni has the backing of the team and rubbished talks of a rift in the team."Dhoni is very young. He came in 3-4 years after I had started playing and he is captaining the Indian cricket team and as a youngster he needs the support of the team and the team likes him a lot. He is a very cool headed person which is very necessary for a captain," he said.Captaining one of the most successful franchises in the Indian Premier League, Yuvraj said it was a high-pressure job with the owners turning on the heat on teams that failed to live up to expectations."As a franchise, an owner must understand the game of cricket. Someone who hasn’t played cricket cannot understand the game. And it is not easy to endure the pressure we come under," he said.The left-hander had a word of advice for the owners getting impatient with their teams – have faith in the players and understand the kind of pressure they endure on field."Every team makes an effort, no one likes to lose. The franchises are successful people in their own field and they don’t like to lose which is good but they should also understand the kind of pressure we have to put up with," he said.Yuvraj felt IPL was a revolutionary concept but on the downside the amount of travelling during the league was certainly a cause of concern."Definitely the players have to work more and subsequently keep themselves fit. The traveling has increased so much that each player is even more accountable," he pointed out.On the increasing display of aggression on the field, Yuvraj said no player needs to be told where to draw the line as they understand the importance of keeping their temper under control."Every one knows that anger is something that should be under your control in crucial situations. I believe that there should be a balance of everything in life. But where aggression is concerned it is within the player itself."An aggressive player has always been like that. It is in his nature. One should not cross the limits.

'Person of the year' award for Mukesh Ambani

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Mumbai: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani will be conferred Wednesday the Chitralekha Person of the Year 2007 award, instituted by the leading Gujarati weekly Chitralekha.Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was bestowed the honour two years ago, will confer the award on Mukesh Ambani at a function here.

Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group chairman Anil Ambani has been voted Chitralekha Business Person of the Year 2007. He bagged the same honour also in 2005.

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has been chosen Film Person of the Year while cricketer M.S. Dhoni is the Sportsperson of the Year.

Mukesh Ambani was chosen as Person of the Year after a readers’ survey conducted by the magazine in Gujatrat and Maharashtra, according to a Chitralekha announcement.

Other names in that category were President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Communist leader Prakash Karat, social worker Anna Hazare, climate change activist R.K. Pachauri, Mumbai anti-terror court Special Judge P.D. Kode and Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra.

Mukesh Ambani bagged 32 per cent of the votes followed by President Patil, who got 22 per cent. Anil Ambani secured 73 per cent in the business category.

In the category of future probables, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi secured 55 per cent votes followed by Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone with 24 per cent nominations.

The previous winners of the Person of the Year include Modi (2005) and former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (2006) in the independent polls conducted by a private research agency.