Ashish Nehra Hails MS Dhoni As One Of The Best Mind-Readers

Former Indian left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra has shed light on MS Dhoni’s unprecedented contributions to Indian cricket. Ashish Nehra was one of those who played under MS Dhoni’s leadership a lot in his start-stop career, including the 2011 World Cup and 2016 ICC World T20. Nehra also played his last game alongside Dhoni, which was in November 2017.

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MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket two days ago via an Instagram post. The 39-year old retired as one of India’s most successful skippers and greatest match-winners across formats. The keeper-batsman played his final game for international cricket against New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semi-final, which the men in blue lost despite his best efforts. Dhoni featured in 90 Tests, 350 ODIs, and 98 T20Is from 2004-2019.

Ashish Nehra admitted that no one could beat MS Dhoni on the aspect of mind-reading. The retired seamer conceded that Dhoni knew which bowlers to bowl in the death overs and who not to expose since they might give away runs. He had the knack of using players according to their abilities without being frustrated or abusing them.

“He had a crystal clear idea about his go-to bowlers in slog overs, the shaky ones who could be clobbered at the death. That’s called mind reading and you can’t beat MS Dhoni on that. f he knew that a player had limited abilities, he would use him accordingly without being frustrated or abusing him and that’s leadership,” the Delhi-born stated as quoted by Times of India.

MS Dhoni knew his bowlers in T20 cricket: Ashish Nehra

The 41-year old further said that the Jharkhand cricketer handled him quite well in the final phase of his international career. Nehra underlined that Dhoni would make him bowl three overs in the powerplay and the remaining three by three other bowlers. Ashish Nehra also admitted that it is okay to concede runs as long as a wicket comes along with it.

“He knew his bowlers in T20 cricket. During my last phase in international cricket, he would make me bowl three overs in Powerplay and the other three would be by three different bowlers. Even if I went for 18 in first two, he would tell me “don’t worry, you bowl the third and if it’s a 12 also, it’s okay if a breakthrough comes along,” he added.

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