Despite the semi-final loss to West Indies in Mumbai on Thursday, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's sense of humour was certainly not dampened. An Australian journalist found that out in the post-match press conference.

Sam Ferris, who is a writer for Cricket.com.au, asked the Indian captain, "You have virtually achieved everything a cricketer could. Are you keen to continue to carry playing on?"

Dhoni asked him to repeat the question and after he did so, he gestured the reporter to come next to him, with a wicked smile on his face, "Come here. Let's have some fun. Come here." Ferris did not know whether the captain was joking or serious, but Dhoni said again, "Come, come, come. Seriously. Yeah come."

Advertisement

Then, with his arm around the Ferris's shoulders and a grin on his face, Dhoni the captain became Dhoni the interviewer.

"You want me to retire?"

"No, no, that's what I was asking," said Ferris.

Dhoni looked around and grinned, "I was hoping it was an Indian media guy because I can't really say if you have a brother or a son who can play for India as a keeper."

Then he shot back at Ferris again, "Do you think I am unfit...."

"No."

"....looking at me running?"

"Very fast."

And then Dhoni finally delivered his punch line. "Do you think I can survive till the 2019 World Cup?"

Advertisement

"Sure, yes, sure."

"Well, then you've got your answer," said Dhoni as laughter shot out in the rest of the room. Then as Ferry walked away, Dhoni added a final quip, "I wish it was an Indian media person. Then I would have asked if he has a son who is a wicketkeeper and ready to play. He would have said no, then I would have said maybe a brother who is a wicketkeeper and who is ready to play."

Later in a piece, Ferry wrote about why he asked the question, "I thought it was a pretty standard question to be fair. When Dhoni shocked the world with his Test retirement out of nowhere after the 2014 Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it caught everybody off-guard. With that in mind, I was sure he would get asked again if he was going to retire from limited-overs cricket."

Perhaps, Ferry did not anticipate that Dhoni would deflect a pointed question by making it a comic affair. By all accounts, he has succeeded - with the focus shifting from India's loss and Dhoni's future to Indian fans endlessly repaying Dhoni's funny moment at the press conference.