Inside In My Heart I Always Wanted To Play Like Sachin Tendulkar But Realised His Style Was Different - MS Dhoni

Former India captain MS Dhoni is also an ardent Sachin Tendulkar fan and even revealed that he wanted to play like he did, but had realized that his style was very different from what Tendulkar had.

Sachin Tendulkar is by far the most popular cricketer India has produced in terms of fan following that too in times when social media didn’t exist. His fan following is organic and there were times in the 1990s and early 2000s when people used to switch off their TV sets once Sachin Tendulkar got out and he carried the weight of expectations of more than a billion people throughout his 24-year career.

He made his debut in Tests and ODIs at the age of 16 years and played his last game for India in 2013 at the age of 40. In between, He played in 200 Tests (the only player to reach that landmark), 463 ODIs (another world record), and 1 T20I for India.

He holds the world record for most Test runs- 15921, most ODI runs- 18426, most ODI centuries- 49, most Test centuries- 51 and Tendulkar is the only batter to make 100 Centuries in international cricket and the next best is Ricky Ponting and Virat Kohli with 71 centuries to their name each.

I Used To Watch Him Play And Always Thought I Wanted To Play Like Him: MS Dhoni On Sachin Tendulkar

If someone comes near him in popularity, it is the three-time ICC trophy winner MS Dhoni. He is the only captain to win all three ICC limited-overs trophies- the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy.

He also took the Indian team to the no.1 position in Test rankings and is by far the most successful wicketkeeper-batter India ever produced. His career spanned from 2004-2019 and he officially retired from international cricket in 2020.

He played 90 Tests, scoring 4876 runs with 6 centuries, and was the first Indian keeper to score a double ton-224. He made 10773 runs in 350 ODIs with 10 centuries and a best of 183* and 1617 runs in 98 T20Is with a best of 56. He is also a four-time IPL-winning captain for Chennai Super Kings as well.

In a video released by Chennai Super Kings on their Twitter account on Thursday, Mahendra Singh Dhoni confessed that Sachin Tendulkar was his cricketing idol and he wanted to play like the Master Blaster while growing up.

He added in the video that he tried playing like Sachin but later realized that his style of play was different and he could not play like him.

“Growing up when I was your age, I used to watch him play and always thought I wanted to play like him but couldn’t. Inside in my heart I always wanted to play like him, he was a cricketing idol growing up,” answered Dhoni.

MS Dhoni will be seen leading the CSK team in IPL 2023 who will return to their home ground in Chennai.

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