5 instances when Dhoni taught the world the ultimate leadership lessons

Jun 14, 2016 at 3:49 PM

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5 instances when Dhoni taught the world the ultimate leadership lessons

Whether you hate him or love him, MS Dhoni will always remain as a standout figure in Indian cricket history. From an explosive batsman sporting a stylish hairstyle to Captain Cool who achieved all possible laurels for his side, Mahi has tirelessly worked on the team.

Here are five instances when MS Dhoni taught the ultimate leadership lessons to the world.

  1. Anticipate Future182403.4

Asking Uthappa to bowl in a bowl-out in ICC T20 in 2007

It has been perhaps forgotten by many that before the famous final, India and Pakistan were engaged in a thrilling contest in the group stages of the inaugural edition of the ICC World T20 in 2007.

The match had been a low-scoring affair with India scoring 141 and Misbah, even on that occasion, had played a heroic innings but failed to win the match for Pakistan in the limited overs as he got run out off the last ball. As the match ended in a tie, both teams had took part in a bowl-out as was the convention in that tournament.

Pakistan went for their faster bowlers apart from Afridi and all of them including Yasir Arafat and Umar Gul missed the stumps. Dhoni quickly realized in a bowl-out, slower bowlers have a better chance. He gave the ball to Sehwag, Harbhajan and to everyone’s surprise, Robin Uthappa! All of them hit the bull’s eye and India won a dramatic clash.

  1. Decisive Approachishantsharma-1458825898-800Bowling Ishant Sharma in the 18th over of the Champions Trophy 2013 final

India enjoyed a great tournament en route the Champions Trophy 2013 final but all the batsmen failed to live up to the expectations on the big occasion. India only managed put on the board 129 for 7 off 20 overs and England were looking firm favourites to win the trophy.

But MS Dhoni had other ideas. He cleverly organized his troops and kept the pressure mounting on a relatively nervous England. All Indian bowlers did their part barring Ishant Sharma who proved to be too expensive. Even when the spinners were bowling so well, Dhoni unexpectedly opted for Ishant Sharma in the 18th over.

Sharma bowled a superb over, taking the wickets of both the set batsmen, Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara, and thus turning the match around. Choosing Ishant also gave Dhoni an extra option for a spinner in the last two overs which ultimately proved to be an outstanding decision. India defended the low total successfully and Dhoni became the first captain in the world to have won all possible ICC trophies.

  1. Develop Those Youngsters Around You31report4

Sending Pujara in at No. 3 on his debut

Tipped as a promising talent, Pujara failed in the first innings of his debut Test at Bangalore in 2010 and was under immense pressure to prove the critics wrong.

But in the second innings, things changed completely for him as captain Dhoni did almost the unthinkable. He sent in Pujara at No. 3 ahead of the Mr. Dependable Rahul Dravid.

Pujara, boosted by the confidence showed in him by Dhoni, played a brilliant knock of 72 that is still remembered by cricket enthusiasts fondly. India ultimately won the Test match and took a decent lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

And in Pujara, a star was born that day. It was loud and clear that Dhoni was already seeing in him the future No. 3 batsman of Indian cricket who would replace Dravid in Tests.

2 . Courage when needed the mostjoginder-sharma-1103

Bowling Joginder Sharma in the last over of ICC World T20 final in 2007

Dhoni’s brilliant captaincy had already taken India to the final of the inaugural ICC T20 in 2007. Dhoni’s men had already exceeded expectations. But the final was against arch rivals mPakistan, a match you would never want to lose even in your dream.

After a dramatic encounter of unpredictable thrills, it all came down to the final over with Pakistan requiring only 13 runs for victory. Pakistan suffered middle order collapse and looked to be out of the contention much earlier but for the solitary heroics of Misbah-ul-Haq their hopes were still alive.

Everybody expected that Dhoni would go to his senior bowler Harbhajan Singh for the last over but he surprised everyone by calling in Joginder Sharma to bowl. Harbhajan had leaked too many runs and Misbah was dispatching the spinners quite easily which might have prompted Dhoni’s decision.

Joginder Sharma later said that Dhoni had told him he would shoulder all the responsibilities if they lost the match. Misbah hit him for a huge six off a full-toss and feeling confident, got a bit over-confident trying to scoop his next delivery over short fine leg. But he got out caught and Dhoni’s men pulled off a historic victory.

  1. Commitment throughoutIndia+v+Sri+Lanka+2011+ICC+World+Cup+Final+spvx8UQTODOl

Promoting himself to No. 5 in the 2011 World Cup Final

The nation had gone into a frenzy by the time India had reached the final of the World Cup in 2011. Expectations were high enough to see the home team triumphing but despite the joyous revelry, there were grave concerns over MS Dhoni’s form. But who knew all of that was about to change very soon.

Chasing a formidable target of 275 for victory, India had been rocked hard by the dismissals of Sachin and Sehwag. Gambhir and Kohli had somewhat steadied the ship only for Kohli to get out at the wrong time. Surprising everyone, in walked MS Dhoni at number 5 ahead of the eventual Man of the Tournament, Yuvraj Singh.

What we saw in the next couple of hours was the work of an artist executed with cold blooded precision. He ran hard between the wickets, he cut, he pulled. Malinga’s toe-crushing yorkers were easily flicked to the boundary. And when he won the World Cup with a splendid six over long on the nation erupted.

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