Irfan Pathan Reveals How MS Dhoni Impressed Him On Their First Meeting With His Power Hitting Abilities

May 18, 2022 at 4:05 PM

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Irfan Pathan Reveals How MS Dhoni Impressed Him On Their First Meeting With His Power Hitting Abilities

Irfan Pathan realized MS Dhoni had power which was evident in his shot selection and was his first memory of MS Dhoni who later became India’s most accomplished captain after leading his country to victory in the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup, and 2013 Champions Trophy and is the only captain so far in history to win all major ICC tournaments. He also managed to make India the number one team in Test cricket.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni ended his 15-year-old career on Independence Day in 2020 but still remained available to play for Chennai Super Kings in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League in 2020 in Emirates. Suresh Raina, his CSK teammate also retired along with MS Dhoni on Independence Day.

Suresh Raina with MS Dhoni | Photo Credit: PTI
Suresh Raina with MS Dhoni | Photo Credit: PTI

Irfan Pathan Recalled The Time When He Saw MS Dhoni’s Talent For First Time

Mahendra Singh Dhoni surprised the world when he announced his retirement from international cricket on Saturday. MS Dhoni posted a video of his career highlights on Instagram while announcing his retirement.

“Thanks. Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout. From 1929 hrs consider me as Retired,” Dhoni said.

Tributes have poured in from all corners for MS Dhoni with everyone lauding his achievements. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan recalled the time when he saw the talents of MS Dhoni for the first time.

“My first memory of Dhoni obviously was playing in Bangladesh, when he got run out on zero. But even before that, I played a practice game against him when he just came fresh from India A tour,” Irfan Pathan told CricketNext.

Irfan Pathan (Image Credit: Twitter)
Irfan Pathan (Image Credit: Twitter)

Left-handed Indian pacer Irfan Pathan also represented India from 2003 to 2012 and though occasionally dropped from the team, made comebacks like World Cup T20 in 2007 and played his last match for India in 2012. He played his last IPL game in 2017.

“We were playing in Bangalore and I bowled a bouncer to him and he smashed that bouncer even though I had a deep square leg. It went only for one run but I realised that this guy has power, that’s my first memory of Mahendra Singh Dhoni,” he added.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led India for the first time in the 2007 T20 World Cup where greats like VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan opted out and nobody expected India to win.

India though had Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, and a lot of youngsters like Yusuf Pathan, Robin Uthappa, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla who were relatively inexperienced at that time. Yet India won as Irfan Pathan, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh played important roles.

Irfan Pathan Says Best Moment Came While Winning T20 World Cup In 2007

MS Dhoni made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2004 and his last ODI came in the 2019 World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand. He retired from Tests in 2014 but remains India’s most successful skipper having won 27 Tests in 60 matches captained by him. In T20I he captained and played most matches as captain as well.

“The best moment with him was obviously winning the T20 World Cup together. On and off the field, we had so many great memories. We had quite a few meals together. There used to be a time before 2007 when we hardly missed a meal, we always used to eat together,” he said.

MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket in 2014.© AFP
MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket in 2014.© AFP

MS Dhoni played his first ODI series after being picked for the Bangladesh tour in 2004/2005 and did not start well failing to score as he was run out for a duck on debut. But in his fifth one-dayer, he scored 148 off 123 balls, and in the third one-dayer against Sri Lanka, he scored an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls to silence critics. The cricketing world can witness his return of him at the 2020 Indian Premier League where he is expected to lead Chennai Super Kings.

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