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I Took A Bullet For My Indian Colleagues, Says Journalist Who Got Special Dhoni Love

I Took A Bullet For My Indian Colleagues, Says Journalist Who Got Special Dhoni Love

By now all of us have seen the video where Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni turned into the interviewer, had some 'fun' and asked a journalist some questions, instead of answering them.

Following the press conference, Sam Ferris, the Australian journalist became the media spotlight. He was swamped by the local press and his phone wouldn't stop buzzing with Twitter notifications. Ferris, soon, started trending.

This was a first for him. "No one has ever called me trendy. Ever," the journalist wrote in a piece.

"This is what the players must go through, and it's pretty daunting. I couldn't remember anything I said, what happened and I had to check my accreditation for my name," he wrote.

Ferris didn't expect to be a media spectacle. But, he isn't too upset with the how the whole thing turned out.

"Word has it Dhoni hates that question and was ready to pounce on an Indian journalist who was going to ask it. Even though I fired the wrong ammunition, it seems I took a bullet for my Indian colleagues," he wrote.

Last night, during the post-match press conference, after Dhoni's quest for a second World T20 title were dashed as West Indies defeated India by seven wickets in the semi-final, he was asked the question of retirement.

Ferris asked him: "You have achieved virtually everything that a cricketer could. Are you keen to continue playing on?"

Dhoni then invited the journalist to come and sit next to him to discuss the question.

"Come here. Let's have some fun. Come here," he said.

The journalist obviously was not sure if Dhoni was being serious. Dhoni insisted. "Come, come, come. Seriously. Yeah, come," Dhoni said pulling a chair towards him.

As everyone in the media room looked on, the journalist walked and sat next to Dhoni. "You want me to retire?" Dhoni asked, putting his right arm around the journalist. The journalist said: "No, I don't. I was just asking."

"Do you think I am unfit?" To which the journalist replied no. "Do you think I can survive till the 2019 World Cup?" Dhoni asked, to which the Australian journalist responded: "Sure, yes, sure."

In the piece, Ferris has also explained that he was never going to ask if Dhoni was going to retire. He just wanted to know how keen he was to play on. "I'm not trying to retire one of the greats," he said.

"I thought it was a pretty standard question to be fair," he wrote.

Read the journalist's piece here.

If you haven't seen the video yet, watch it above.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.