The biggest question apart from who will win the ICC World Cup 2019 is will India’s most successful captain MS Dhoni retire after the quadrennial event? There is no doubt that the ongoing showpiece event will be Dhoni’s last World Cup outing but there are still doubts whether he will hang his boots after on July 14. Interestingly, Dhoni has been showing gratitude towards his bat sponsors in India’s last two World Cup matches (against Bangladesh and England) and has already used stickers of various bat sponsors that have backed the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman throughout his illustrious career.
Dhoni’s manager Arun Pandey, on why Dhoni is using different stickers on his bats, said it is Dhoni’s style of saying thanks to the sponsors who have helped him throughout his career – in every ups and downs. “Bade dil ka aadmi hai,” said Arun.
BAS cricket gear helped Dhoni stay on the path of becoming an international cricketer during his initial, struggling days. The company, in the biopic made on the Dhoni, was shown supporting the glovesman even before he got his debut cap. Arun revealed that Dhoni is not taking any fees from the variety of bat brandings he is using in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019 while adding that he wants to thank them for helping him out in different stages of his career.
“It’s a fact that he has been using different bats with different brandings, but he is not charging them. He wants to say thank to them for helping in various stages of his career,” Pandey told Mirror while adding, “he does not need money, he has enough of it, he is using those bats as a goodwill gesture. BAS was with him from the beginning and SG also was very helpful to him.”
The different brands have confirmed that they don’t have any sort of contract with Dhoni at the moment. The Vampire firm owned said it shows the greatness of Dhoni while SG firm revealed they don’t have a contract with the former Indian skipper to use their branding.
“It shows the greatness of the man for what he has been doing,” Vampire firm owner Pushp Kohli told Mirror while adding, “our association with Dhoni goes back to a long time and you may have seen this in his biopic too.”
With Dhoni approaching the final stage of his career, let us hope he brings the best out of himself and brings another World Cup home since helping Team India win the 2011 edition of the quadrennial event.
