In much the same manner as he phlegmatically finishes off second innings run chases, India captain MS Dhoni played the calmest of straight bats to the potential storm of a five-ball over furore after Tuesday's dramatic Commonwealth Bank Series tie against Sri Lanka at Adelaide Oval.
The 30th over of India's innings, bowled by Lasith Malinga, comprised only five balls and in an enthralling match which not only went down the wire, but finished dead-level, the missing delivery - with in-form top-scorers Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni at the crease at the time - could have been crucial.
Dhoni acknowledged it but refused to be drawn into complaining about it for fear of courting controversy.
"(Coach) Duncan (Fletcher) told me there was a five-ball over," Dhoni said.
"We have seen in the past, we've bowled an over and almost changed sides but the third umpire interferes and says you have to bowl one more ball in this over."
"Usually that's what has happened in the past."
"It didn't happen in this game - I don't know why. Not much can be done now."
Dhoni didn't accept that the errant early-over call, which meant Sri Lanka faced 300 legitimate deliveries compared to India's 299, had a definitive impact on the result.
"A dot ball could have happened," he said.
"It's done and dusted. We could create a big fuss out of it, but what's the point?"
"It's like a controversy that's really standing right on the edge, just about to happen. We don't really want to create a controversy out of it."
Dhoni drew a comparison between the fact such an error could be made in this day and age with so much technology to hand with India's contentious reluctance to utilise the decision review system in Test cricket, believing human error in all facets is part of cricket.
"If it can happen, I don't know why people can back the DRS so much," Dhoni said.
"We have seen people being really happy with DRS in one series when it goes in their favour and then it doesn't go in their favour, they're quite unhappy about it."
"I'm quite happy with the two umpires in the middle, the third and fourth umpires, the match referee and the scorer ... if that (ball counting error) still happened, it's better off accepting it, because as humans we are bound to make mistakes."
Dhoni intimated his side will not pursue the matter further.
"What's the point?" he surmised. "It's a controversy that's right there - we don't want to get into anything like that."
"We just want to stick to the result that has happened."
"Hopefully it won't be replicated, not with us or any other side."
For the second time in three days at this ground, Dhoni (58 not out) was the man for the eleventh-hour crisis, avoiding defeat with a calm run chase under lights, albeit on this occasion coming up with a tie and not the victory he piloted his side to against Australia on Sunday.
Needing a boundary to haul in Sri Lanka's 9-236 off the final delivery, Dhoni scooped Malinga over extra cover and scampered three runs to ensure a gripping tie.
Earlier, India, despite losing some early wickets, were cruising for most of their innings and required just 68 off the final 12 overs and 59 off the last 10 with six wickets in the shed.
But the equation ballooned out to 24 off the final two overs after the run out of Gambhir (91) in the 41st over which exposed the lower order and precipitated a collapse.
Cool-hand Dhoni stuck to his tried and true formula to fashion a superb revival at the death.
"When you are chasing, you have to play percentage cricket and chase according to the amount of runs that are on the scorecard," he said.
"You don't look to score 250 when 236 is the target."
"What you look to do is get it in the 48th or 49th over."
"Once the wicket gets slower and slower, the ball doesn't come onto the bat and it becomes difficult to rotate (strike) consistently, (so) you have to play big shots."
"And with big shots, there's risk of the batsmen getting out."
"The more you play in these circumstances the better you get."
"That's one of the reasons why somebody's batting at six or seven."
"It's important that they bat at that number because more often than not what will happen is while you're chasing, they'll come into bat and they'll be pressure on them."
"They'll always bat under pressure."
Dhoni clearly enjoys playing under pressure and while Indian fans' hearts pound heavily when it appears he's left his run late, his amazing ODI record in run chases makes it difficult to fault his better-late-than-never approach.
"We all play big shots, we can easily play the big shots but the difference is it has to pay off," he said of his habit of pushing singles and not unleashing until the very end.
"I'm never in a hurry to finish it in the 47th or 48th over."
"Even if it goes to the 49th or 50th over, I'm quite happy."
"I don't have the luxury of batsmen behind me so if I go in, then more often that not I like to finish the job."
"Some people like to take a bit more risk in the middle and finish off the game, but I have a different perspective about it."
"If you ask Viru (opener Virender Sehwag), (he'd say) 'why not finish in 25 overs because if it's there to hit, you hit it'. Every individual is different."