Here are the five cricketers who can thank MS Dhoni for the support and backing they got.
It has been a system since cricket started and even in the Indian cricket team, there were captains who backed certain players to the hilt. Sourav Ganguly, for example, backed young guns like Sehwag, Harbhajan, Yuvraj, and Zaheer to the max and transformed the fate of the Indian team.
Recently, Yuvraj Singh gave a statement that when MS Dhoni became captain, he backed certain players and even wanted a certain player over him in the 2011 World Cup squad. This has led to some speculations on whether MS Dhoni really favored some players during his captaincy tenure that started in 2007 and ended in 2016.
Team COC takes a look at 5 cricketers who can thank MS Dhoni for the success they achieved with him backing them to the hilt or giving their careers a new trajectory.
Check out the 5 cricketers who got backing from MS Dhoni when he was captain
R ASHWIN
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He then made his Test debut against West Indies in 2011 and before that was part of the Indian 2011 World Cup-winning squad. He received constant backing and support from MS Dhoni in both the Indian team and in the CSK team, despite his fluctuating performances, especially outside India in places in England, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia in the 2014-15 season.
Ashwin continued his good form and now has 365 Test wickets from 71 matches, while in 111 ODIs, he has 150 wickets. He also has 52 wickets in 46 T20Is, but his white-ball career has come to a halt after the 2017 Champions Trophy.
RAVINDRA JADEJA
Since then, his performances also got consistent under the guidance of MS Dhoni, who backed him no matter what, and in 2013, he was picked as the second spinner in the Test team against the visiting Australians and he has never looked back since. He repaid the faith Dhoni showed in him in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, where he won the golden ball and picked a five-wicket haul against the West Indies.
Jadeja continued to flourish under Dhoni’s guidance and even after Kohli took over, he managed to make a terrific comeback after being out of contention for a while, along with Ashwin after the debacle of 2017 Champions Trophy. Moreover, he has also said that the former Indian captain is the best one to bat with. “If you want to learn batting, bat with MS Dhoni,” Jadeja was quoted saying.
ROHIT SHARMA
It was MS Dhoni, who then pushed Rohit Sharma to open with Shikhar Dhawan as the new opening partnership and in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, Rohit turned a page in his career and has never looked back since. He averages 58.11 with 7148 runs and has made 31 centuries as an opener with three double hundreds in ODIs at a strike rate of 92.27.
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In T20Is, he has 2313 runs as an opener with a strike rate of 140.52 and has hit 4 centuries at an average of 33.04. This all happened because MS Dhoni asked him to open the innings and that helped him in earning his place back in Tests as well, wherein his first series as an opener, he made three centuries, including a double-ton.
“I believe the decision to open in ODIs changed my career and it was a decision taken by MS Dhoni. I became a better batsman after that,” Rohit Sharma was quoted saying in January 2017.
SURESH RAINA
Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni share a special relation given that they made their India debuts in a short span of time. They became the anchor of the Indian middle order and when IPL started, he became the deputy to MS Dhoni in the franchise, and Dhoni’s belief in him made him one of the most successful batsmen in the league.
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Raina was the first person to whom Dhoni revealed in 2014 that he was retiring from the Test scene and he flourished under Dhoni’s captaincy for a long time. He was even picked in an important stage of the 2011 World Cup by Dhoni after the Yusuf Pathan experiment didn’t yield expected results and he came good in the QFs against Australia.
“I have learnt a lot from Dhoni. I keep talking to him and asking him questions in the field, standing at slip or point as to what he is thinking and why he made a particular move,” Raina was quoted saying once.
VIRAT KOHLI
Dhoni got him to play at no.3 and Kohli managed to cement his spot in the team. He credited Dhoni for this by saying to India Today in an interview,” When I walked into the team, he had the option of trying someone else after few games, although I grabbed my chances for me to get that kind of backing, it was very crucial for me. Also, he gave me an opportunity to bat at No 3 because not many youngsters get to play at No 3.”
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However, the talk was of Test cricket and that’s where Dhoni backed Kohli a lot, even against the wishes of selectors, and some experts, who wanted Rohit Sharma to get Kohli’s place. When India went to Australia in 2011-12, the Delhi lad batted at 6 but got scores of 11, 0, 23, and 9 in the first two Tests.
Sanjay Manjrekar had even infamously tweeted, that Kohli should get one or two more innings, just to make sure he isn’t cut out for Test cricket. But Dhoni backed Kohli for the remainder of the Tests and in Adelaide, Kohli repaid with his maiden Test ton-116 and has never looked back ever since.
Dhoni even groomed Kohli for captaincy and gave up the position when he felt, Kohli was ready for it, in all formats.