Dhoni, symbol of new India

In Back Page Lead, Sharda Ugra analyses the rise of MS Dhoni the cricketer and the brand, which resulted in a US$42m two-year deal last week. She looks at Dhoni's media strategy and notes that the one person who had a similar tightly controlled media image was Tiger Woods.

He [Dhoni] keeps print and TV journalists at arm's length and one-on-one interviews can either be boring email responses through his manager-du-jour or nothing at all. A former Indian captain laughed: “It should have been my template.”

This tack gives Dhoni his space and privacy and also ensures that journalists turn into infatuated stalkers, starving for morsels of information.

It is why his recent, secret wedding led desperate reporters to interview florists.

It is why the $42m is being seen as a gee-whiz deal. It’s a Dhoni story and that’s gold dust.

Rediff.com asks several of India's best known brand gurus what makes Brand Dhoni tick. Most of them say Dhoni's success despite his small-town roots and the lack of a godfather in cricket combined with his equanimity on the field is what makes him so appealing.