Former Team India Head Coach Greg Chappell has recently called the former Indian captain MS Dhoni as the ‘best finisher’ of the game he has ever seen. He also revealed how he helped Dhoni to improve his finishing skills.
The 38-year-old veteran wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni is famous in the cricket world for many reasons. One of his top images is achieving mastery in the finishing skills of the game. In his long international career, Dhoni has guided the national team to the victories for many times, even after coming to bat in the critical conditions.
Greg Chappell, who coached the Indian national cricket team from 2005 to 2007, recently claimed that Dhoni was the most exciting Indian cricketer at his time. According to Chappell, Dhoni was the most potent batsman.
On Facebook, Chappell told Playwrite Foundation, “I vividly remember that I was left awestruck when I saw him batting for the first time. He was definitely the most exciting cricketer in India at that time. He used to hit the ball from the most unusual positions. He is the most powerful batsman I have ever seen.”
Talking about this, Chappell brought the example of Dhoni’s best ODI knock (183* against Sri Lanka at Jaipur on 31st October 2005). In the very next game at Pune, Dhoni batted differently due to the advice of the head coach Chappell and guided the team to the victory again with his another brilliant knock of 45 not out after coming to bat in the critical situation.
Chappell added, “I remember his knock of 183 against Sri Lanka and how he tore them apart. It was power hitting at its very best. The next match was in Pune. I asked MS, ‘why don’t you play along the ground more instead of trying to hit every ball to the boundary’. We were chasing 260 odd and were in a good position and Dhoni was playing a contrasting innings to the one he had played just couple of days before.
There used to be a booming smile on his face, whenever he used to score the winning runs: MS Dhoni
During that Pune ODI, Dhoni, who has finished many limited-overs matches with the boundaries, asked Chappell whether he could play the big shots when the Indian team was 20 runs away from the victory. Chappell advised him not to follow that until the target moved in single digit. Later, when India were 12 runs away from the victory, Dhoni finished that game with back-to-back sixers.
Chappell continued, “We still needed 20 runs to win and Dhoni asked me, through 12th man RP Singh if he could hit sixes. I told him not until the target was in single digit. When we needed six runs to win, he finished the game with a six.
“I always used to challenge him if he could finish the game. There used to be a booming smile on his face, whenever he used to score the winning runs. He is definitely the best finisher the game has ever seen.”
In ODI cricket, MS Dhoni is holding the record of most not out innings (47 not outs) during the successful chasing. In T20I cricket, Dhoni is holding the second-best record of most not out innings (15 not outs) during the successful chasing.