MS Dhoni, as captain, has a trophy cabinet that would make anyone envious. No one can deny the fact that he always ahead of the opposition and always had a plan for everything. Dhoni had the Midas touch and India was blessed to have him as the skipper. He was never afraid to take his chances and try something out of the ordinary.
Captaincy can be a cruel job at times and Dhoni realised this very early on in his career. Once he tasted success as a skipper, he never really cared about anyone’s opinion and always converged on taking Indian cricket to the pinnacle.
The best captain often inspires his teammates to produce their best under pressure at which Dhoni was a master at doing. During his captaincy he several timed pulled the rabbit out of the hat and produced magic results. In the meantime let’s relive some of his most bold that turned out to be in favour of team India.
We will take a look at 5 bold decisions of MS Dhoni that turned out to be successful:
5. Promoting Rohit Sharma as an opener
Rohit Sharma has now become a force in international cricket. But there was a time when he was struggling for runs and was on the brink of losing his spot permanently in the Indian team. Rohit was lucky to have Dhoni as captain as he always believed in his ability and backed him completely. Rohit was made to open by the then skipper in the Champions Trophy in 2013 with Shikhar Dhawan.
This turned out to be a career-defining move for Rohit as he never looked back since then. He became one of the leading players in the world. The trust that MS Dhoni had in him paid off as Rohit finally realised his full potential which ultimately benefitted Indian cricket.
4. Replacing Suresh Raina with Yusuf Pathan in the World Cup
Yusuf Pathan was in brilliant form in the build-up to the 2011 World Cup. However, Pathan was unable to carry his form in the mega event and struggled for runs. In the group stages, Indian lost to South Africa and tied a game against England as India lacked a finisher. Cut short to the quarterfinals of the World Cup against defending champs Australia, MS Dhoni made a very bold decision.
Suresh Raina replaced Pathan, who had till then had not played even a single World Cup match by then. The move proved to be extremely successful as Raina played two match-winning cameos in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
Raina helped India finish their innings strongly in both matches and he justified Dhoni’s move of selecting him ahead of Pathan in the two high-pressure matches.
3. Sticking with Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli is today the best batsman in the world which has taken Indian cricket to amazing heights. This would not have been the case if Kohli was dropped in 2011-2012. Kohli failed miserably in his first Test series against West Indies and it looked as if he will not play the Test matches again. Later that year Kohli was selected for the 4 match series against Australia as MS Dhoni spotted his talent and backed his youngster.
In the first two Test matches, Kohli yet again failed and the pressure was mounting on Dhoni as everyone wanted to drop Kohli. Dhoni although decided against it and gave a young Kohli yet another chance to prove his mettle.
Kohli made most of the opportunity as he played two brilliant innings in Perth and followed it up with his maiden Test century in Adelaide. Since then, Kohli has gone from strength to strength and became the captain once Dhoni retired from Test cricket.
2. Joginder Sharma ahead of Harbhajan Singh
Misbah was executing the big shots at will against experience Harbhajan Singh. This made Dhoni turn to plan B as he took the gamble and decided to throw the ball to inexperienced Joginder Sharma in the last over. Pakistan needed 13 runs off the last over as Dhoni placed all his bets on the medium pacer. Joginder succumbed to pressure as his first three balls included a wide and a massive six by Misbah.
Dhoni then quickly ran to his bowler and calmed him down as Pakistan was just one stroke away to seal the match. The rest is history as Joginder landed the ball in the perfect area which Misbah tried to attempt a scoop shot and miscued. Sreesanth took the catch and India lifted the T20 World Cup, and MS Dhoni against all odds made India champions by leading a young side.
1. Promoting himself up in the batting order in the 2011 World Cup final
India was chasing a stiff target of 275 runs in the final of 2011 World Cup against Sri Lanka. The men in blue lost Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virat Kohli fairly early in the run chase. Everyone expected Yuvraj Singh to bat next, who was India’s best player during the tournament.
However, MS Dhoni had already decided that he was going out to bat next after talking with Indian coach Gary Kirsten. Dhoni felt he will be able to play Muralitharan better being a right-handed batsman. Out walked Dhoni under extreme pressure at the Wankhade and produced an innings for the ages.
The Indian captain completely erased the thread of Murali and took the match away from Sri Lanka. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 91 and sealed the final clash with his trademark six down the ground.