(Analysis by P. Ramesh Rao)

Mumbai : Indian cricket captain M.S. Dhoni is in danger of rocking two boats. Even since Sachin Tendulkar started making money, other Indian cricketers are running round trees of  fortune. Sachin pays income tax in crores of rupees, and now Dhoni is on the same path. Having their legs in two boats, they may not do justice to either. Dhoni has come under serious concern in two cases already, one of swallowing 6 lakhs of rupees from a business company without appearing for their ads, and losing the World cup in a shameful way, getting out in quarter – finals. The Madrasis are happy with him as he led the Madras Team to IPL -3 heights in finals. But in Sri Lankha Indian team is reeling under blows with 3 centuries in an innings by the first 3 players this week. Has Dhoni bothered? He is signing Rs 210 crores deal with a sports outfit this week.
No one grudges Dhoni a fair amount of income from cricket, but vying for business contracts? It is altogether different. Dhoni may not last long in cricket, and he makes fewer centuries, though as wicket keeper he regularly catches and stumps batsmen in any match. As his presence is felt in all 3 games (Test, ODI and T/20), his responsibility is more in cricket than in brand ambassadorships which he may or may not honour if they are spread out to many brands. Cricket has already been commercialized, but now the disease is spreading to cricketers, and they do not do justice to the game, as you see in football stars in South Africa who do not score goals in World Cup but in lesser games only to see that their countries fail at quarter final stages, like England, France, Italy, Argentina and even Brazil.