He may not fear anything on field on foreign cricket tours but off it, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni considers the "hard to understand" heavily accented English of locals the biggest challenge.
"In countries like Australia or England, people speak English in such an accent that it is very hard to understand. So, at parties when locals come to us and start talking, even if we are not getting anything, we say yeah.
"Or if I have a drink in hand, I excuse myself by saying, 'I'll just get a drink' but never show up in front of that person again," Dhoni joked in an interaction with National Security Guard (NSG) commandos in Manesar for NDTV's Jai Jawan programme.
His language woes have not been limited to just trips abroad, Dhoni had similar problems while playing for Chennai Super Kings during the Indian Premier League (IPL).
"I played for Chennai but didn't know any Tamil. But people there thought that since I was part of the team, I had learnt it. So I just picked up a few words and for one and a half months that I played there, I relied on those to break the language barrier," he said.
The wicketkeeper-batsman lauded the NSG for their heroics during the Mumbai terror strikes, during which they rescued several hostages before clearing the under-siege Taj and Oberoi Trident hotels of terrorists.
{{/usCountry}}The wicketkeeper-batsman lauded the NSG for their heroics during the Mumbai terror strikes, during which they rescued several hostages before clearing the under-siege Taj and Oberoi Trident hotels of terrorists.
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