MS Dhoni is famous for being an astute observer of the game. Captain cool has made several instinctive decisions on the field over the decade and those decisions have led to decisive victories for his teams. Be it in his wicketkeeping or batting skills, whether for the Indian national team or for Chennai Super Kings, MS Dhoni always leads from the front. It is for this reason that Dhoni is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever to play the game of cricket.
Indian bowlers have often been guided by Dhoni during matches. His analysis of the game has reaped rich rewards for the bowlers while winning matches for Team India. One of the beneficiaries of Dhoni’s reading of the game is spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Not only has Dhoni provided guidance to bowlers with regards to where to bowl, but has also proved masterful in his use of the DRS which has many a time caught a wrong decisions which can very easily miss the naked eye.
The 25-year-old left-arm wrist spinner has often explained the importance of Dhoni behind the wickets. He has revealed several times that Dhoni often advises him on where to bowl and explains some tricks to outsmart the batsman. He also talked about how he never paid attention to field placement as the presence of Dhoni behind the stumps assured him of the right outcomes.
In an interview, Kuldeep told Cricinfo, “when I started my career, I wasn’t good at reading the pitch. I learned about this aspect after I started playing with MS Dhoni. He would often tell me when I needed to spin the ball or where I needed to pitch it,”
“Dhoni was very good at setting the field as well. That’s why I never paid attention to field placement when I bowled with Dhoni keeping the wicket. He would understand where the batsman could try to hit me and set the field accordingly.”
He further added, that he has felt the lack of MS Dhoni’s presence ever since his absence from international cricket after the semi finals of the world cup last year. He mentioned, “it helped me bowl with confidence. Since the time he has not played odi cricket, this has gone missing as well.”
Just one amongst many others, Kuldeep is also clearly waiting to see MS Dhoni return in India’s blues at the earliest.
