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Ravichandran Ashwin has pointed out how MS Dhoni sticks to the basics which makes the game look quite easy for him.
Ravichandran Ashwin (left) and MS Dhoni engrossed in a conversation. (BCCI Photo)
MS Dhoni started his international career as a hard-hitting top-order batter and retired as one of the game’s greatest captains. Widely regarded as one of the greatest finishers, Dhoni time and again showed he was a master tactician with the truckload of trophies that he won as captain the living proof of his skills.
One of his long-time India and IPL teammates Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed a surprising but ‘elementary’ quality that separated Dhoni from other captains – sticking to basics.
In a conversation with Sky Sports Cricket, Ashwin said, “It’s a very simple question to answer in my head. He (Dhoni) does most basic things right, and most other captains miss the basic elementary things. It makes the game look much more difficult for them.”
Shedding light on how Dhoni handles his bowlers, Ashwin said the instructions are clear: bowl to your field but if you gift a loose delivery, be ready to face his wrath.
“He (Dhoni) would never, for example, if he gave the ball to the bowler, the first thing he would say, ‘take your field and bowl to the field’. He hated that when a batter came to bat, and you would bowl a loose delivery,” Ashwin said.
Ashwin recalls how Dhoni would take him off attack if he bowled loose deliveries to allow a batter to score freely. However, if it was the batter who ‘earned’ those boundaries, the two-time world cup winning captain won’t mind.
“He would never take me off the bowling if there were 2-3 boundaries if they were well earned. If I gave a batter a ball to cut or drive when he came out to bat, he would be livid. He would make me feel my place and take me off the bowling,” Ashwin said.
“And that’s a very basic essence of cricket, and over the years, I have realised that people have forgotten the basics. MS Dhoni keeps it very simple on those accounts,” he added.
Ashwin gave an example of how Dhoni gets the best out from his bowlers by recalling the performance of pacer Tushar Deshpande in IPL 2023 when he finished as Chennai Super Kings’ leading wicket-taker of the season as they became champions for a record-equaling fifth time.
“In last year’s IPL, he has got Tushar Deshpande, and he got the best out of him, and people spoke about it,” Ashwin said. “I know what exactly MS Dhoni would have told him, he would have told him, ‘get hit on the longer side of the boundary, give me two less runs than the last game’. That does two things to the bowler, releases the pressure and makes him think how better can I get on small set of goals. He does basic things very well day in and day out, compared to the others.”
