Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni isn’t sure that how much he has changed as a cricketer since fatherhood but he feels that daughter Ziva has certainly changed the person that he is, especially in his attempts to keep her on the “backfoot”. During a recent award function, Dhoni talked about the rarely touched subject of his life after fatherhood.
Mahi elaborated, “I don’t know whether it has changed me as a cricketer, as a person yes of course because daughters are very close to their fathers. In my case, the problem is when she (Ziva) was born I was not there (three years ago), most of the time I was playing cricket, so everything bad somehow is thrown at me (to deal with).”
And the many tough aspects that MS has had to deal with include ensuring that she falls in line by the mere mention of his name. He said, “Khana nahi kha rahi hai, papa aa jayenge khana khao (when she is not eating food, she is told dad will come to have food), is she is doing something wrong, papa aa jaeynge mat karo. So, in a way, she looks at me and she is slightly on the back-foot.”
Ziva was with MS during the complete season of IPL 2018 as she accompanied him to a lot of matches and being a part of his post-game celebrations as well.
WATCH – Ziva Dhoni Says No To Photographs
Talking about the IPl experience with Ziva, Mahi said, “I had a wonderful time with her (Ziva), she was there for the whole of IPL and one of her biggest requests used to be I have to go to the ground, that is lawn for her. And also there are a lot of kids on the team. I would get up by 1:30, 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon. Ziva is up by the time, she gets up by 8.30 or 9, has her breakfast, engages with everyone, starts playing… I feel it just relaxes us a bit more when the kids are playing with each other.”
Dhoni even joked that for once he would like to take Ziva to the post-match presentation to answer the questions, he said, “I don’t know how much she follows cricket, how much she understands, but I have to bring her one day for the post match presentation and she (can) just start answering all the questions.”
WATCH – MS Dhoni Blow Dries Ziva’s Hair After Winning The Game
Speaking of his own routines, Dhoni revealed that he took to rowing exercises during the IPL. He said, “Once the tournament (IPL) started I was not in the gym anymore. I just did my rowing, (and) in Chennai I had a rowing machine in my room only, I would get up, order my breakfast and before the breakfast came, I would start my rowing.”
