“We’ve got bigger problems,” the captain said. “We respect their opinion, they are reputed former players, but we have our own problems to solve. That is of foremost importance to us. We need to put things right on the field and not worry about some of the stuff that is not in our control... We have bigger problems to solve.”

A day after The Indian Express reported that three former selectors led by Mohinder Amarnath had wanted to strip Dhoni of the Test captaincy in January this year but were stopped by BCCI chief N Srinivasan, Amarnath confirmed the development on Wednesday.

When a British journalist asked Dhoni if he “would have preferred being anywhere but here” because of the things that were being said and written about him, the captain replied, “In India, we have extreme opinions. We praise someone very highly, and in a few games, we start pulling the same individual down. For me, it hasn’t been difficult to not watch TV or read newspapers. I have been not doing it for quite some time now.”

Cricket web site cricketnext.com reported on Wednesday that Dhoni had complained to the board about opener Gautam Gambhir’s poor “attitude” and “selfishness”. Though the story broke after his press conference, Dhoni was asked a question about Gambhir’s commitment. He replied: “The best thing I like about him (Gambhir) is that he is an aggressive character. I have always talked about that. Nagpur is a big game and he is a big game player.”

The Indian team, Dhoni said, was in the midst of a transition following the retirement of several giants of the game. “Everybody was talking of this phase in Indian cricket where the big cricketers will move on and the pressure will come on young players. Everybody was expecting a rough patch. You have to keep faith in the youngsters.”