The title “Captain Cool” has become a household name for the former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. We cannot deny the victories his able captain has won in his decade-long career in international cricket, the man has won plaudits for his ability to keep his emotions in check and remain calm even in the most charged-up environments; be it the highs of victories or the lows of losing the big matches.
There are a plethora of questions which were unanswered till now. Despite the low stats he is carrying these days, everything else was going too well for Dhoni, none has affected the wide range of fans he has got worldwide.
Now, after a long time, Dhoni’s popularly believed best friend Suresh Raina who played for Team India and Indian Premier League (IPL) side Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) went on to reveal how even MS Dhoni gets angry on the cricket field. This left-handed batsman who now isn’t part of Virat Kohli’s led team has made this revelation when he appeared on the Gaurav Kapur’s chat show ‘Breakfast with Champions’.
Talking about this, Raina said, “His eyes don’t show any emotion. Despite not wearing sunglasses, you cannot tell (about his emotions). We will be like ‘come on, man. show us some reaction’. But he does get angry, you don’t see it. The cameras don’t pick it up. But as soon as the telecast cuts to the ads, he will say ‘Better get your act together’.”
Next, to this, Raina also revealed an incident from India versus Pakistan game when Dhoni asked Raina to keep building pressure on Pakistan after Umar Akmal complained to Dhoni, the then India skipper, about Raina.
“Once in an India vs Pakistan match, Umar Akmal complaint to Dhoni that I was abusing him. When Dhoni asked me what happened, then I said that I was just throwing a few balls and putting pressure on them. Mahi Bhai bole, aur de s**le ko (MS Dhoni asked me to build more pressure on Pakistan).”
Raina also lauded Dhoni for his ability to read the game situations and how he goes about his business before executing his plans.
“He (Dhoni) is a very good reader of the game. He is hailed as the world’s best finisher. He knows what is going to happen next. At any given point, he is ready with three different game plans – A, B and C. When he is batting or keeping or captaining, he is always ready with different plans. He plans overnight, then gets a feel of it in the morning and tries to visualize it. A lot of people don’t know this about him. This is why he remains calm: He knows it’s his game at the end of the day,” said Raina.
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“Opposition can’t predict his moves. He works hard for it, he visualizes it. Even when rotating the strike, sometimes he will step out and nudge a single. That’s not his actual game. But he is letting the bowler know that he can take him on,” added Raina.