Dhoni: Where six appeal meets sex appeal

[Zakhmi]

Iron wrists, strong and supple. Forearms and shoulders, sturdy. They help him play the trademark helicopter shot over long-on for six. His hair, not too long anymore; it is neatly cropped. Eyes full of steely determination. His brand of cricket, dynamic. His leadership, authoritative and adventurous, yet not reckless. His smile, disarming. That's Mahendra Singh Dhoni for you. The above concoction is incredibly heady and comes at a price. Chennai Superkings were willing to pay it and snapped the Indian ODI captain up for an obscene $1.5 million during the players' auction for the DLF IPL Twenty20 in Mumbai on Wednesday. What is it about the man that made a team roll out the red carpet adorned with green backs? Former India selector VB Chandrashekhar, who is also manager of the Superkings, made a pregnant remark, "We wanted Dhoni. The price was incidental. He gives us four dimensions. He bats, keeps, leads and has a high glamour quotient." Former India skipper and brand ambassador of the Superkings, K Srikkanth, who admitted that he didn't see that kind of money during his playing days, said, the absence of a star in the team made them gun for Dhoni. "By getting someone who is the captain of the T20 World Cup winning team and the current ODI team, we got star presence." Noted ad man and head of Corcoise films, Prasoon Pandey, endorsed Srikkanth's views. "Dhoni's price was pushed up because he wasn't an icon player and could be bid for by all the franchisees. That meant he was in demand. If Sachin Tendulkar wasn't an icon player, his price would have been something else." Both Srikkanth and Pandey reckoned that Dhoni's presence would give the Kings the X-factor. Ad guru Pralhad Kakkar would rather call it sex factor. "Dhoni's sex appeal is immense," Kakkar, responsible for some of the most memorable ads involving cricketers, says. But surely there are also good enough cricketing reasons for Dhoni to strike it rich. "Of course. He is the captain of a successful cricket team, has great leadership qualities and bats well. He is eminently watchable." Kakkar though feels that these are attributes that only the print medium looks at. "Analysing skills and stats is very logical and that's what the print medium relies on. But IPL Twenty20 will be TV driven which is visual. It doesn't look at logic. It's all about sex appeal." As earthy and carnal as that may sound or read, it's a fact. And something that Santosh Desai, CEO Future Brands, respects. "Dhoni demands attention. For a brand, it helps that the man endorsing your product or playing for your team pops eyeballs," says Desai. Representing everything that young India is going through at the moment, is another of Dhoni's plus points. "Dynamism, daredevilry, youth, ambition, hunger for success, determination. The man has it all. It is not a surprise that he is incredibly in demand. He is a magnet for attention." Most of those qualities are also representative of Indian Test captain Anil Kumble. Yet, he didn't even get half the amount that Dhoni received to play for Bangalore Challengers. Desai has a good reason to explain that. "If I want Dhoni to endorse a product, I can cash in on several attributes. Looks, success, aggression... .If I am endorsing someone like Kumble, I can relate to him on determination. Nothing else. Versatility is one of Dhoni's plus points. That makes him a hit with brands." Source: http://cricket.indiatimes.com/News/Dhoni_Where_six_appeal_meets_sex_appeal/articleshow/2802727.cms

Dhoni Bowled over by Deepika

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

Yup he has an amazing sex appeal for yuvraj to hve scored his dream girl..lollll