IT WAS DIFFICULT TO PLAN FOR MS DHONI; WHEN HE WAS ON SONG, NOTHING WORKED” — AB DE VILLIERS

Speaking exclusively on JioHotstar’s special show ‘7 Shades of MS Dhoni’, former India selector and cricketer Kiran More recalled his first impression of MS Dhoni:

At that time, if you looked at our batting order, you had Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman — all these players. Yuvraj Singh was also there. But I felt we needed an aggressive player, who could come and hit fours and sixes, utilize the Powerplay, make runs in 15 overs, and also in the middle overs. We were looking for someone who could hit sixes and boundaries — that kind of aggressive player wasn’t visible. See, the top players were all of one mold. But MS Dhoni’s strength — that power-hitting — we were looking for a different kind of player like that, to balance the batting order. If you want to make 100 in 10 overs, you can. We gave many wicketkeepers chances, but the spark we saw in Dhoni — I felt this boy is something special, something different. We were taking chances. He was raw. From there, we picked him and gave him a chance.

*Mohammad Kaif, speaking on the same show, looked back at Dhoni’s iconic breakthrough performance against Pakistan during the tour of India in 2005 and the surprise promotion up the batting order:*

_“Matches against Pakistan are always pressure matches — Ganguly thought, let’s promote MS Dhoni up the order. He might play a cameo. No one knew he would hit 140. No one in the dressing room knew. First surprise — he’s at number three. Then he starts hitting. He used to hit lofted shots — over point, over mid-off. We thought this guy can’t play a long innings. How wrong we were! As his innings progressed, he kept hitting — in the Powerplay, spinners, fast bowlers — everyone got hit. After the Powerplay, he still kept playing his shots, rotated strike, hit more. He knew he had to play fast, but also knew that a quickfire 30 wasn’t enough. He knew it was a do-or-die match. If he flopped at number 3, he wouldn’t get further chances because he had already gotten a few earlier. He didn’t play under pressure; he played his natural game.”_

*Former India coach Gary Kirsten reflected on Dhoni’s leadership and cricketing instincts:*

_“My initial view on MS Dhoni’s leadership approach was that there was a lot of bravery in how he was going to take the team forward, and he wasn’t shy to approach senior players about what his views were and how he wanted the team to be successful. He assessed the situation in the game and played accordingly. I think he was the best at that. His assessment of the game situation and how he needed to play — he was very difficult to get out, especially in white-ball cricket when chasing. The way he read the game — for me, that was the key. He wanted to be at the front of the battle, not shouting orders from the back. He wasn’t someone who spoke on top of the parapets. He was actually pretty quiet as a captain. Didn’t say much in team meetings, but spent a lot of time working one-on-one with players. His hotel room door was always open for players to come in and chat or watch cricket with him. He was very engaging that way — always involved in conversations with the players.”_

*South African legend AB de Villiers spoke on the difficulty of planning against Dhoni:*

_“It was very difficult to plan for MS Dhoni. When he was on song, nothing worked. Later on, we discovered that sometimes you could get away with wide deliveries with the seam, especially in the back end of his innings. We tried it. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. The guy’s class — not many game plans worked against him. I have a lot of respect for him and his achievements throughout his career. He was definitely an intimidating player to play against. What a fantastic career he had.”_

*Former England captain Eoin Morgan shared his perspective on facing Dhoni in crunch moments:*

_“There’s always a plan — but how many you have and how effective they are is always the question when playing against MS Dhoni. I played against him at the height of his powers. Trying to restrict him, especially in the last 10 overs of an ODI or the last 5 overs of a T20, was a nightmare. Wherever you bowled, it didn’t really matter — he found a way to hit it to the boundary. Whether it was over offside, straight down the ground, cow corner, or behind square — just his game-reading, what you were trying to do and how he would counter it — he always seemed one step ahead.”_

_Catch all episodes of ‘7 Shades of MS Dhoni’ — only on JioHotstar and the Star Sports Network_

Link to watch all the episodes: https://www.hotstar.com/in/shows/7-shades-of-dhoni/1271431183/mahi-maar-raha-hai/1271431191/watch