Trying to follow Sachin, Dravid in handling fame: Dhoni

New Delhi, Sep 2 (UNI) Trying to walk on the footsteps of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in handling growing adulation, dashing India stumper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he is learning to stay sane both in fame and failure as he comes to terms with his meteoric rise to stardom.

''I would like to follow in the footsteps of Tendulkar and Dravid and the way they handle fame. They are pretty levelheaded,'' Dhoni told 'Dash' magazine in an interview.

''Actually there are three roads to fame- one, you can get suck up in it; two, you can be devastated by failures and three is the middle path where you are neither affected by fame nor by failures.

I try to follow the middle path,'' he elaborated further.

A footballer to start with, Dhoni said a double hundred while playing in a school match changed his mind for good and he decided to pursue cricket with passion.

''Actually, I was a footballer to begin with. But then there was this school's final in Ranchi where I scored a double hundred and shared a triple-century stand with a fellow batsman. It was the turning point in my career. Ambition had begun to take roots inside me,'' he said.

The swashbuckling batsman is sure that the day is not far when someone manages to strike a double hundred in ODIs as well to break Saeed Anwar's record of highest one-day individual score of 194 and he was one of the batsmen targeting the milestone.

''Actually I came close to doing it when I smashed 183 in a one-day international last year. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it.

However, the day is not far off when somebody would be able to do it and even cross 200 in one-day internationals,'' he predicted.

The Jharkhand-lad said he would not hesitate to walk if convinced of being out but recalling his controversial dismissal in the recently concluded tour of West Indies, the Indian said he was not sure whether the umpires had been correct in adjudging him caught in a Test match.

''I prefer to walk when I am clearly out. Why to increase pressure on the umpires when you know you are out. Truth to tell, I don't know to this date if I was out. I am not sure if I was really caught cleanly at the boundary ropes or if Darren (Ganga) the fielder had stepped on it,'' he said.

Well aware of his status of a big-hitter in the Indian team, Dhoni said he was working on his running between the wickets as well to become a complete player.

''Yes, I can hit big and long but so can others. Mathew Hayden, Kevin Pieterson, Justin Kemp, Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi and Adam Gilchrist are a few other cricketers who are mighty hitters of the ball,'' he pointed out.

Pressure is one word, which has no meaning for him and Dhoni says he never lets the situation overawe him as it might hamper his free-flowing way of playing. The wicketkeeper says that having batted on every position in his career, he never feels any pressure.

''When you are batting at number three, you are trying to play responsibly and build the innings. But at number six, your team is expecting you to finish off the game. Hence there are different requirement. I don't feel the pressure as such since I have played in different situations and positions in domestic cricket,'' he said.

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