Australia cricket team captain Michael Clarke, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, has claimed that it would hard for the Indian team to fill the 'hole' that has been left by Mahendra Singh Dhoni on his retirement from Test cricket.
Clarke, who cannot imagine that there would be many jobs in international sport tougher than being the captain of India's cricket team, stated that from a touring captain's perspective it is busy enough.
The skipper stated in his column for News.com.au that there are always thousands of fans gathered outside a player's hotel, many others lined up along the team bus' routes and a media contingent unlike anything else in world cricket.
He stated that India's population is almost 1.3 billion, adding that when one is playing over there, it feels like every single one of them is passionately following the cricket.
But, Clarke added that they get to fly in and fly out. He stated that the Indian players have to live it every hour of every day, and popping out to the coffee shop isn't an option for them.
Clarke claimed that he doubts many have dealt with the expectation, scrutiny, pressure and extreme adoration better than Dhoni.
Clarke fails to understand how Dhoni has managed to hold down the captaincy while playing all three forms of the game and wicketkeeping at the same time.
The Australian skipper claimed that Dhoni has done a wonderful job and he believes that the hole the Indian captain has left in the Test team would be hard to fill.
Clarke, who claims that he is a week ahead in his rehab from hamstring surgery, stated that he has had quite a few chats with Dhoni over the years, and nearly all of them have been about motorbikes.
The veteran batsman stated that he loves them, but not quite with the same devotion Dhoni does. He revealed that he is catching up with Dhoni at a Spartan BBQ on Sunday and would be riding his Harley there so the wicketkeeper-batsman can take it for a spin.
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