Former CSK fast bowler Mohit Sharma revealed instances of MS Dhoni’s ‘not-so-calm’ side.
As calm and composed MS Dhoni is, he also has a furious side which everyone who’s played with him has witnessed. Dhoni didn’t win three ICC titles and five IPL trophies by fluke. There’s a method to his madness; always has been. And as part of that madness, it’s but obvious that that there will be moments when even the great MSD will have meltdowns. Look up his reaction on being shoved my Mitchell Johnson during an ODI against Australia in 2009, or the way he put bulldozed Mustafizur Rahman down to the ground, and you’ll understand. And oh, who can forget what Dhoni told Manish Pandey when he wasn’t paying attention to him from the non-striker end?
MS Dhoni was mostly calm, but often lost his cool as well.(ANI)
Ask any current or former CSK player who sings praises of Dhoni. He would also reveal at least one instance when Dhoni lost his cool. In this instance, Mohit Sharma, an IPL veteran, spoke about how he and his fellow bowlers have faced the renowned wrath of Dhoni. Mohit has had two different stints with CSK under Dhoni – between 2013 and 2015 and in 2019. In the first three seasons, Mohit grabbed a collective tally of 57 wickets, and 12 more across the rest. Being the CSK’s sixth-highest wicket-taker with 69 scalps is a decent achievement, but it wouldn’t have been possible without Dhoni giving Mohit a piece of his mind.
“We’ve got a lot of abuses from him. But he always says, what happens on the field, stays there. Later, he will make you understand but never be angry with you. I have heard a lot from him. Being a fast bowler, you tend to lose focus. Pay attention to what’s happening behind you. If he waves at you and you are facing towards some other end. If someone from the public says something and you react. Because of things like this, I’ve copped a lot of flak from him,” said Mohit on the ‘2 Sloggers’ podcast.
With Mohit’s departure, the baton of getting abuses hurled at seems to have been passed on to Deepak Chahar. The cameras have often spotted Dhoni playfully striking Chahar or hurling a few expletives – albeit all in good spirit. Chahar took over from Mohit as he gradually began to fade out and responded to the role rather brilliantly. In IPL 2019, Chahar took 22 wickets – it was the same season where Dhoni made Chahar bowl all four of his overs in one go at the start. Like a big brother, Dhoni pulls Chahar’s leg but at the same time, shows affection towards him as well, mentioned Mohit.
When Dhoni used ‘nice’ words for Chahar
“Deepak Chahar has also received a lot of abuses. He too has a story. In 2019, Deepak was playing, and I was not. The game was in Chennai, and everyone was sweating profusely. He bowled a knuckle ball that I think was a full toss or something, which was hit for either a four or a six. Dhoni bhai told him not to bowl it again. He said, ‘ok Mahi bhai’. After bowling the next 2-3 ball, he bowled the knuckle ball again which this time went over the head of the batter,” Mohit recalled.
“Mahi bhai came up to him, kept his arms around Deepak’s shoulder, said a few things to him and went back. We obviously didn’t know. So when the match got over, we asked what happened? He said, ‘You know what he said? He said a few wonderful things (likely abuses), and then he added ‘Bewakoof tu nahi hai, bewakoof main hu (You’re not the fool, I am). So that is a tale we always remember. Now it’s Deepak’s turn and he will be part of that queue. At the same time, Dhoni bhai loves Chahar equally,” Mohit pointed out.
