Earlier this week, the news - or at least the press-released news - that M S Dhoni had signed a marketing contract worth $42m over two years, found its way to the front pages of newspapers, major and minor, and on every TV channels news run-down. Some headlines even read, "Dhoni inks rs 200-cr deal, beats Tendulkar." (The "cr" refers to crores, where in India's own numbering system, a crore equals 10 million).

The headline, sounding like an advert for a lack of judgement, logic and taste, required a fact check and a few questions to those making the announcement, but that is not going to be done. In India these days, the larger the number, the bigger the headline. It is as if the dazzle of cash gives off light which blinds every possible corner.

It is what the IPL did to the BCCI and many others in the cricket economy. Lalit Modi distracted people from detail and fine print of all his multi-million dollar deals by using the disco lights of their frequency.

Apparel, internet rights, food and beverage, theatrical, entertainment, hospitality, streaming video, mobile, merchandising, distribution of merchandising, and on and on and on. So that what could happen alongside an enormously popular cricket tournament was money laundering and financial fraud.

This is not to say that Dhoni's business deals are front covers for shady dealings but surely, the newspaper boast of ‘beating Tendulkar' needs close scrutiny, not in virtue terms, but basic number-crunching.

As Dhoni's career went into dizzying, oxygen-depleting ascent, his manager would proudly announce that he had more endorsements than any other Indian cricketer. As if that proved anything other than the corporate cattle-herd's love of the stampede.

Dhoni's has been an astonishing rise in over five years. He has gone from being a hick town wild card to a highly successful India captain, a batsman of tremendous impact and yes, that much-loved 21st century bauble, a ‘brand.'

He has, we are told, 24 endorsements (may his bank balance increase) and can be spotted on hoardings all over Indians roads for cola, cement, Brylcreem, real estate, surrogate pitches for whisky, fans (on ceilings), TV sets etc etc.

The pitch that works for him, ad gurus say, is any directed at "youth and masses". Today, going by the demographic, that includes half of India - which is coming of age at a time of economic bounty and constant consumption.

Tendulkar represented the time Indian cricket had just began to grasp its reach and size of its market. Dhoni stands for India's surge and its after-effects. Indian cricket's two current marketing ‘icons' have neither similarity nor contest.

In the last five years, Dhoni has had four sets of people involved in three management deals. He is currently involved in two messy disputes around old contract payments, one which began as a civil suit which he has now turned into a criminal case in his home state.

Outside his cricket, Dhoni has guarded his privacy much like the Louvre would Mona Lisa, where the tourists see the lady only through triplex glass. He has ensured that India sees him through his image: of an explosive, aggressive cricketer, the ‘Captain Cool' nickname and a clean cut young man from Ranchi gone from nobody to superstar-league of fame and money through performance alone. Writer Mukul Kesavan even called Dhoni, "India's first adult captain since M A K Pataudi".

As the Indian media exploded in the last decade, Tendulkar relaxed and opened up to them on his own terms. Dhoni uses another route. He 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.

In terms of tightly-controlled, image/media management in the era of Twittering and 24/7 news cycles, only one other contemporary sportsman comes to mind and it's not Mr Tendulkar.

Before saying the name, understand that this is not about sporting ability/achievement, nor personal/ethical conduct. We grumbly journos just wonder about image control and strangled access.

A year ago, the comparison would have been an enormous compliment to Dhoni. Today, it may unleash a legal whip. Tiger Woods, anyone?