Former India captain MS Dhoni may have relinquished his captaincy to Virat Kohli in January 2017, but he hasn’t kept away from making big decisions on the field.
Dhoni is certainly entering the field with a lot less weight nowadays than the times he was captain, however, he has been very keen to help Virat Kohli with decisions on the field, especially during crunch moments.
Kohli is usually seen running to Dhoni to bounce off a few ideas before making his decision.
Not bad to have someone with 9 years of captaincy experience, right?
Dhoni Guides Chahal and Kuldeep From Behind the Stumps
MS Dhoni has been known for moulding spinners over the years. Ravichandran Ashwin, in particular, was very fortunate to play under the watchful eyes of Dhoni for the Chennai Super Kings, early in his career.
During the first ODI between India and Australia, Dhoni was heard through the stump mic, giving interesting advices such as Woh maarne waala daal naa andar yaa baahar koi bhi (bowl the one where he tries to hit, turning in or away, anything is fine), according to NDTV, the wicketkeeper told Kuldeep.
And when he was upset with the bowlers’ execution of the deliveries, he would react: "Tu bhi nahin sunta hai kya (You also won't listen)? Aise, aise dalo (bowl it like this)," Yuzvendra Chahal was told by Dhoni.
When Kuldeep Yadav had trouble while taking advice from Dhoni standing behind the stumps, the wicketkeeper ran up to Kuldeep, to explain his plan.
Dhoni’s Hand in Jadhav Bowling in the Champions Trophy Semis
When Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim had put up a stand of over 100 runs in the Champions Trophy semi-final match, the Indian team was looking a little short of ideas to break the partnership.
Then it was part-time spinner Kedar Jadhav, who provided the crucial breakthroughs. He first bowled out Tamim Iqbal and then a few overs later, he dismissed Mushfiqur Rahim.
Jadhav returned with figures of 2/22 and India managed to restrict Bangladesh to a total of 264/7.
When Kohli was asked about the magnificent move, he said:
Yeah, when moves like this pay off, I won’t take the whole credit. Obviously, I asked MS, as well, and we both decided that Kedar is a good option at the moment, and he bowled really well. Credit to him.Virat Kohli
When Kohli Went With Dhoni and Nehra’s Suggestion
At the end of the 16th over of the third T20 between India and England, the visitors were almost done and dusted. They were at 127/8, chasing India’s 202/6.
Virat Kohli thought of giving the next over to Hardik Pandya, but it was MS Dhoni, along with Ashish Nehra, who suggested that Jasprit Bumrah should be given the ball.
Bumrah picked up two wickets in three deliveries and India won the match by 75 runs.
(This story was first published on 21 September 2017 and has been reposted from The Quint's archives to mark MS Dhoni’s 37th birthday.)
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