Cricketers Who Owe Their Career Success To MS Dhoni
Published - 03 Sep 2019, 08:52 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 06:21 AM
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Cricketers Who Owe Their Career Success To MS Dhoni; Well, where to start and how to start writing on this man? Once in a while, there arrives a cricketer who changes the way of the game. From Sir Don Bradman to Sachin Tendulkar and from Malcolm Marshall, Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath to the latest Jasprit Bumrah, Kagiso Rabada, all took the game of cricket to the next level with their exceptional skills.
One such cricketer is Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who changed the face of the Indian cricket. With his astute captaincy and the extraordinary character, he lifted the Indian National Cricket Team to newer heights after blossoming under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly. During his captaincy, he handed chances to a few cricketers on a repetitive manner, who now had a successful cricketing career and owes a part of their success to MS Dhoni.
Cricketers Who Owe Their Career To MS Dhoni:
– Suresh Raina:
Famously termed as ‘Chinna Thala’. He was always a go-to man for MS Dhoni during his times as a skipper of the team. The flamboyant batsman has delivered the goods for India under MS Dhoni, especially, at crucial junctures of the game. Dhoni often backed Suresh Raina to stay in the team, especially, in the limited-overs format.
He even pushed the selectors to give one more look at Suresh Raina in Test format as well. However, he registered golden ducks in both of his innings.
Dhoni was once quoted about Raina saying, “He’s the best that we have got and we need to back him. Because if we don’t back him, the new guy who comes in will say: ‘I don’t want to play shots. I’ll make 25 runs and go home not out’.
However, under Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina failed to showcase his skills. Eventually, he lost his place in the playing XI across the formats.
– Ravichandran Ashwin:
He was like Harbhajan Singh for Sourav Ganguly. Just how Harbhajan delivered for Ganguly during his times, Ashwin delivered for MS Dhoni across the formats. The duo always maintained a great rapport between them and MS Dhoni used to back him up more often than not across the formats even in overseas conditions.
He even tried Ashwin to open the innings for India many times as well. Such was his confidence in Ashwin. He proved to be less effective in countries like Australia and England where he was given a run for his money. Every time that pressure heaped on him to deliver, he was backed by Dhoni and bounced back with compelling performances
– Ravindra Jadeja:
Jadeja completely belongs to MS Dhoni. I mean that Jadeja’s every top-notch performance came under MS Dhoni across the formats. The duo used to be great friends and always shared a healthier time between them. MS Dhoni is a great believer of Jadeja’s talent with the ball and bat. He even asked CSK to purchase him for the hefty price in IPL as well. Such was his confidence in Ravindra Jadeja.
He was overlooked for the 2011 World Cup. However, post that, he became a regular member of the white-ball sides. With Harbhajan Singh fading away, he formed an excellent pair with Ravichandran Ashwin in white-ball cricket. He was pretty effective with the bat as well.
ICC Champions Trophy 2013 was a breakthrough tournament for him, where he finished as the successful bowler of the tournament.
– Ishant Sharma:
The lanky fast bowler Ishant Sharma is one of the fast bowlers, whose career blossomed under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. After having a fantastic run in the overseas games, he failed to remain consistent in his performances. However, Mahendra Singh Dhoni backed him to be in the playing XI more often than not.
In the 2013 Champions Trophy final, Ishant went for plenty but the then Indian captain trusted him and gave him the 18th over (the game was reduced to 20 overs). Sharma changed the game and helped India win the Champions Trophy.
Even in 2014, when India won a Test match at Lords, it was MS Dhoni’s ploy to ask Ishant Sharma go with the bouncer strategy. It worked like magic and became a career-defining moment for the fast bowler.
– Virat Kohli:
Yeah, you read it right, it is Virat Kohli on the chart. Despite having the enormous talent, Kohli never scored runs on a consistent basis. His England tour back in 2011 was a disaster. However, MS Dhoni trusted his abilities and persisted with him in the team. It was him, who now became the best batsman of the world across the formats.
It was how MS Dhoni had a massive influence on Virat Kohli becoming a complete batsman. It would have been a different scenario if Mahendra Singh Dhoni failed to identify the talent in him, especially, in the red-ball format. Since then, Virat Kohli grew from strength to strength to see India reach newer heights.
– Rohit Sharma:
Well, his name on the list in an obvious call. The right-handed stylish batsman himself owed his career to MS Dhoni, who persisted with him for quite a period. It was him, who asked Rohit Sharma to open the innings and as they say, the rest is history. He became the owner of quite a few records in the game of cricket after opening the innings for India.
The Nagpur-born batsman averaged 30.43 after his first 86 ODI matches. There were a few flashes of brilliance but he wasn’t consistent at all. However, it was MS Dhoni’s masterstroke of promoting him at the top of the order in the 2013 Champions Trophy that worked wonders.
And after that, Rohit Sharma never looked back and grown a lot in stature as a cricket. In today’s world, he is the best batsman to open an innings in the limited-overs format of the game. His three double centuries will stand for him for the rest of his life.
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