There is no recorded evidence to show if Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a James Bond fan but we have proof to show the Captain Cool’s obsession for the numeral 7. Believe it or not, inside those steel grills of the helmet, lurks a very superstitious person with strong belief in numerology.
This side of the India skipper surfaced while he was signing an endorsement deal with Maxx Mobile on Tuesday. Dhoni chose to ink the contract on December 7. The dear skipper insisted that the deal would be signed at 7 in the morning. Oh yeah, the deal is for 7 years.
You must have guessed it by now. Dhoni’s obsession for the number 7 is not without a story. The milk-guzzling Ranchi lad was born on July 7 in 1981, that’s 7-7-81. You got it right — there is a 7 in his birth year (’81) too (8-1= 7). Many others would have preferred to count 81 as 8+1=9 but Dhoni thinks that it adds up to (or subtracts?) 7. One can question his bowling changes, selection of shots or field placements, not his personal beliefs.
The Maxx Mobile story does not end there as yet. The 7-year contract is for Rs29 crore. Even Sir Isaac Newton couldn’t have questioned that there is a 7 in that astronomical endorsement fee (9-2 =7).
So when the deal was signed in New Delhi on Tuesday morning, oops, at 7 am on December 7, top honchos of Maxx Mobile, too, were present. “He insisted that it should be signed at that hour. We had no problems,” Ajay Agarwal, the company’s CEO, told DNA. “For us, it is a matter of trust, credibility and long-term relationship,” Agarwal said.
“No brand has ever signed a deal for seven years at one go. Not just in India, but also in the world.” Agarwal is happy to admit that since Dhoni started endorsing the product, sales have gone up by over 50 per cent. So the ‘7 am’ news came out as breaking news on a channel at 7 pm. Did you watch?
You need not wrack your brains to guess what number he wears on his back. It is, of course, 7 — both on his India blue as well as CSK yellow. We will investigate and let you know if our dear Mahi is a 007 fan!
