Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan reacted to the Gautam Gambhir-Virat Kohli controversy and recalled an incident where Gambhir, who was then the KKR captain, played with the ego of his opponent captain, MS Dhoni, who led the CSK team in the Indian Premier League.
Over the years, Gambhir has frequently exchanged jabs with India’s most accomplished captain, whether it be during the 2011 World Cup final or during their IPL matches, particularly in the IPL 2012 final, where KKR defeated CSK to win their first IPL championship.
Irfan Pathan, a former India all-rounder, related an intriguing occurrence on Wednesday during Chennai Super Kings IPL 2023 match against Lucknow Super Giants, which included Gambhir and Dhoni facing off again, albeit in a different capacity.
Dhoni has always been known as one of the most tactically brilliant captains, but Pathan’s mind harked back to the time when Gambhir’s tactics got inside Dhoni’s head.
MS Dhoni Was Rattled To The Core By The Field Setting: Irfan Pathan On Gautam Gambhir’s Brilliant Tactics
Pathan was pointing towards the incident which happened during a KKR v CSK game during the two years when Gambhir would set up a Test match-like field, bringing in a close-in field whenever Dhoni walked out to bat. He then would toss the ball to his top spinners- either Sunil Narine or Piyush Chawla and put pressure on Dhoni.
“Gautam Gambhir played with the ego of MS Dhoni when he was the captain of KKR. He was the only one who succeeded in rattling him for years. MS was rattled to the core by the field setting,” Pathan said while doing commentary on Hindi.
In a 2016 encounter between KKR and RPS, Dhoni entered the batting order as his team was in trouble at 74/4 with Chawla in excellent form. Gambhir capitalized on the chance and surrounded Dhoni with fielders. He placed Suryakumar Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, and Shakib Al Hasan in close positions, denying Dhoni any breathing room.
Gambhir was aware that Dhoni had gotten a little more vulnerable to spin as the years went by. Dhoni appeared to be highly susceptible when attempting to protect or block.