Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal reveals one of the possible reasons for Dhoni’s retirement from international cricket. Chahal who was always guided by Dhoni from behind the stumps feels that the COVID-19 situation and lack of international games forced Dhoni to take such a call.
He was recently quoted saying that the COVID-19 pandemic played a huge part in Dhoni’s retirement. Chahal himself found Dhoni’s retirement news shocking since he had the intuition of Dhoni playing the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Corona played a key role in Dhoni’s retirement – Chahal
“Dhoni’s retirement was very shocking news. I think Corona also played a role in this decision, otherwise, Dhoni would have played T20 World Cup,” Chahal said in News18
As we have often heard Dhoni advising Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal from the behind the stumps. Also for a fact that the Leg Spinning Duo have been largely successful when Dhoni has guided them from behind the stumps.
“Because of him Kuldeep Yadav and I succeeded. We used to get a lot of help from him from behind the wicket. If Dhoni was there, 50 per cent of my work was already done.” Said the Leg Spinner from Haryana.
Chahal credited Dhoni for his ability to read pitches before they even started bowling. This skill of Dhoni hugely benefitted Chahal and Kuldeep as without Dhoni’s presence they would take time to understand the pitch.
“Dhoni knew how the pitch was behaving. Before the first ball, we knew what the pitch was like because of him. Otherwise, when Dhoni was not there, we would take two overs to understand the pitch,” he said.
We have often seen Dhoni setting the field in the backend overs of the match. Yuzvendra Chahal revealed when both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are fielding at the boundary. It was Dhoni who came in for help since he was the nearest senior member in the side.
“In the match, since Virat (Kohli) and Rohit (Sharma) were on the boundary, then Dhoni was the nearest senior, he would help us always. Dhoni also helped Kuldeep and me a lot during the tour of South Africa.” Said Chahal.