Dhoni promised that his last match will be in Chennai: Badava Gopi

Even though Badava Gopi moves around with a lot of celebrities, he says that he has always wanted to take a picture with only two people — the late APJ Abdul Kalam and cricketer MS Dhoni. While he was able to get a pic with the former several years ago, he is kicked about realising his dream of meeting MS Dhoni as well.

Gopi recently shot for an ad with the ace cricketer and cannot stop gushing about it. He says, “I was on the verge of letting the opportunity go, but then, I asked the team who would be part of the ad. They told me it would be MSD, and I was so excited. I thought I’d be one of the many guys in the ad, but I did get to share proper screen space with him. Krishna, with whom I’ve worked on several ads and even a film, has directed it.”

So, what was Dhoni like in person? “He was sincerely rehearsing all the lines, while I was ogling him,” Gopi laughs, adding, “I introduced myself and had a lengthy chat about cricket. He was someone who handled more pressure than even the PM. When I asked him about it, he told me that he never thought about the result. He said, ‘If you think about the result, pressure builds. If you win, enjoy; if you lose, learn.’ He was so calm that it left me astonished.”
Gopi also spoke about the Pakistan team to him. “I felt they are a nice bunch and asked him why we aren’t playing enough cricket with them. He agreed with me that the current team is a very good bunch of cricketers,” says the actor-presenter.

Gopi also did an impromptu mimicry of Dhoni, which, he says, the cricketer really enjoyed. “He asked me to come to the awards presentation ceremony next time. Dhoni promised that his last match will be in Chennai, and I really do hope that whenever it happens, I should be there on the ground,” he says.