The talismanic MS Dhoni's captaincy acumen has won many matches for Men in Blue and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) over the years as he is known for taking brave calls during the match. Two World Cup titles and four IPL trophies for Chennai-based franchise validates the stature of Dhoni's captaincy.
After bidding adieu to international cricket back in 2020, Dhoni has only been captaining for CSK in the IPL. Dhoni had a terrible season last year as the Yellow army ended second last in the points table. CSK followed their last year's suit in the IPL 2023's campaign opener against defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) as Dhoni's brigade suffered a five-wicket defeat at the hands of Hardik Pandya's men. However, they staged a stunning comeback in their following match in which CSK defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 12 runs, in which Dhoni turned heads by smashing two back-to-back sixes to Mark Woods in the final over.
The four-time champions CSK are set to lock horns with five-time title holders Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 8 (Saturday).
Meanwhile Dhoni's former teammate Robin Uthappa revealed his experience of playing under 40-year-old legend. But to everyone's surprise Uthappa opened up on how ‘irritating’ it was to play against Dhoni.
"When I played against CSK, I used to be very annoyed. I was very irritated with him. (Narrating an incident playing on-screen) He didn't have a fine leg for Hazlewood, so I knew he will bowl to this angle (outside-off). I tried getting a boundary there (deep point), and got out. He forces you to play in areas wher eyou're not used to playing. He plays with batsmen's mind. He not just forces the batsmen to think differently, he forces the bowlers to think differently as well," Uthappa said.
Uthappa also shared one instance during his stint with CSK and said how Dhoni used to play with the batter's mind.
"He puts the bowler in a situation where he feels that he need to take that wicket-taking option. Devdutt was playing the pick-up shot really well. So he said, 'okay, we will force him to play that shot', and he brought the fine leg more into a leg-gully sort of a position. I was like, 'where does he come up with these things?," Uthappa concluded.
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