Suresh Raina Highlights What Changed MS Dhoni's Personality And Explains How

The ICC 50-over World Cup was perhaps the turning point of India and marked the beginning of MS Dhoni’s captaincy stint a few months later. In his first ICC tournament as captain, which was the T20 World Cup in 2007, MS Dhoni guided India to the summit, securing the inaugural trophy in the format. One of his best friends, Suresh Raina, has described how the defeat in the 50-over World Cup in 2007 shaped his personality.

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India could not get past the group stage in the 2007 World Cup, suffering losses to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka that resulted in their exit. The men in blue, under Rahul Dravid, faced plenty of outrage from the media for their meek performance. It was MS Dhoni’s first World Cup and became one of the finds for the Indian team. Fast forward to the present, the 39-year old retired five days ago as one of the greatest captains and match-winners.

Suresh Raina, who also retired the same day, underlined that MS Dhoni reads the game very well and how he has captained India, became tougher after every tour is a testament. Raina stated that he learnt plenty from the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, highlighting one gets a lot of takeaways from a loss. Hence, the 33-year old added it shows his toughness and the 2007 World Cup was the turning point.

“He reads the game very well. We have seen it over the years how he has led the team, how he became tougher after each and every tour. I would say he really really learned a lot from the 2007 World Cup loss. He said you can win a lot of matches but when you lose, you can learn a lot. That shows how serious he is as a person, what sort of a person he is, how tough he is. He is someone who can enjoy his aura. I think the 2007 World Cup really changed him as a person,” the Uttar Pradesh-born cricketer told Cricbuzz in an interview.

If we are at A, MS Dhoni might be thinking about E: Suresh Raina

The former left-handed batsman continued saying that it is challenging to interpret the keeper-batsman’s mind since he is mostly way ahead of everyone else. Raina said that since he is an army man, it speaks of their toughness and strongness in character and thinking. The iconic pair will ply their trade in the IPL 2020 for the Chennai Super Kings, beginning on the 19th of September in the UAE.

“He is a tough guy, we can’t make out. If we are at A, he might be thinking about E. You can imagine how he prepares himself. I have to go to E, to get him close to Z. He is a Colonel. You know how they are, they have very very strong characters,” Raina added.

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