Veteran Harbhajan Singh, who was a preferable spinner in the team when MS Dhoni had stepped into Indian cricket, has revealed the former India captain was a very shy person. He only started to open up after the Australia series in 2008 which brought everyone close.
Dhoni hardly used to hang out with the rest of his teammates, as said by Harbhajan in Chennai Super Kings' Instagram live.
Talking to sports producer Rupha Ramani, the CSK senior bowler said his controversy with Andrew Symonds changed the Indian dressing room. Dhoni started opening up with the rest of his Indian teammates after that tour.
"We have played a lot of cricket together, we have toured a lot of countries together West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia. MS was a very shy guy. He never used to come to our rooms. He used to be on his own. We used to hang out with Sachin [Tendulkar], Zaheer [Khan], Ashish [Nehra], and Yuvi [Yuvraj Singh]. MS was a very quiet guy," Harbhajan said.
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"And then the 2008 series happened. The Test match (Sydney) got everyone together in the Indian team. Those moments made us believe 'we are all together in this'. From that time onwards, he started opening up a bit and started sitting with us. Of course, he was a young guy."
Dhoni is still a very quiet person and he gives space to his teammates. "But even after he became captain, he was quite shy. When he used to give suggestions, he came to us. He still remains the same. He will not tell you what field to set and what not to.
"Not just me, but everyone. A guy like Deepak Chahar, he gave everything the freedom he needed to explore himself. That's something everyone should learn from him giving you the space you need to a bowler or a batsman is a very, very important," Harbhajan said.
The 39-year-old played for Mumbai Indians since the beginning of the IPL until he was picked for CSK in 2018. Talking about wearing Yellow jersey for the first time, Harbhajan said, "First time, it was very strange. I was like 'what is this? Is this a dream?' Whenever we played against CSK, it was like India-Pakistan, it was a tough game. Then suddenly, I was not wearing blue, and wearing yellow was difficult. It was very difficult to get used to.
"Luckily, we played our first match against Mumbai. I was like, 'it was good we got over this match early'. Throughout the first season, it was difficult. After that, we won the trophy. The second season was better," he added.
