Ten Instances When Other Cricketers Criticised MS Dhoni
Jul 8, 2019 at 12:08 PM
No cricketer has perhaps divided opinion as much as MS Dhoni in the history of cricket. The former India skipper has carved his own place in the history of the game with his unprecedented success as a batsman and a skipper. Dhoni remains one of the handful of the players who has scored over 10,000 runs in ODIs.
Considered as one of the the greatest finishers in the history of the game, Dhoni’s record as wicketkeeper and batsman is second to none. His track record as captain is even more impressive. Till date, he is the only captain to have won all the three ICC tournaments – World T20, World Cup and Champions Trophy.
But throughout his glorious career, Dhoni has managed to hog the limelight for wrong reasons too. Quite a number of times, one has also witnessed other players taking a shot at the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman. So here are ten instances when players criticised MS Dhoni:
9. Shoaib Akhtar:
Shoaib Akhtar could not help but criticise MS Dhoni after his slow knock against Afghanistan in the World Cup. Dhoni faced 52 balls and managed to score just 28. His innings was so poor that even Akhtar ended up criticising him.
“MS Dhoni played really really slow. I can understand that there was a bit of awkward bounce in the wicket but still the amount of dots he played cost India. Indian batting was a bit exposed. But India dodged the bullet and it was a good wake-up call for them,” Akhtar said in the video posted on his YouTube channel
8. Nasser Hussain:
This is yet another instance when MS Dhoni faced criticism from a former cricketer for his slow strike-rate. He managed to score only 37 off 59 balls as India added just 75 runs in the last 20 overs in pursuit of 323. The entire world was shocked by Dhoni’s lack of intent and later Nasser Hussain had take a shot at him.
“I thought it was a very odd innings from the greatest-ever finisher in white-ball cricket,” Hussain told Sky Sports. “This is the same bloke that in the 2011 World Cup final promoted himself up the order to whack the ball out of the ground and see them beat Sri Lanka in Mumbai.
“Dhoni, more recently, has taken longer to get going, especially when spin is on, so I wasn’t surprised by his start, especially against the leg-spin of Adil Rashid. But I was surprised he never really played a shot in anger until he got out,” he added.
7. Sanjay Manjrekar:
Another day and another criticism for MS Dhoni for the same reason – the strike-rate. With Dhoni struggling to get going in World Cup 2019, Sanjay Manjrekar also joined the bandwagon and pointed out his struggles against spinners.
Here’s something interesting about Dhoni -. 41 off 87 balls v spin this WC. But in the warm up games 69 off 56 balls v spin. That tells me it’s mental too. He does not put his wicket on the line as much in the big games.#ICCCWC2019
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) July 2, 2019
6. Kuldeep Yadav:
MS Dhoni’s teammates have stuck by him through thick and thin. However, Kuldeep Yadav raised some eyebrows earlier this year when he said that the veteran does not always give the right directions on the field.
“There are a lot of times he (Dhoni) goes wrong but then you can’t say that to him,” Kuldeep had said at the sidelines of the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards.
5. Yograj Singh:
The former India player and father of the legendary Yuvraj Singh has slammed MS Dhoni quite a number of times. When Yuvraj missed out on a spot in the 2015 World Cup, Yograj had cursed Dhoni to be left penniless one day.
“Dhoni was nothing. He has become a God in cricket just because of media. Media has crowned him as a great which he never deserved,” Yograj had said.
“There was a time when he had nothing but today he sits in front of media and rips off the media persons. He laughs at media who has given him so much hype. He laughs at the Indian people who clap when he scores a run,” he added.
4. VVS Laxman:
Even VVS Laxman had to criticise MS Dhoni due to his constant struggles with the bat. After seeing Dhoni’s batting performance in the World Cup 2019, Laxman said that the wicketkeeper-batsman would regret it. He also said that Dhoni did not show any intent.
“I think some day MS Dhoni will regret the way he started off his innings. It’s an area he requires to address. Even in the last match against Afghanistan, it was difficult for Dhoni to rotate the strike. It’s all good when the fast bowlers are bowling. He didn’t show the positive intent at the start unlike Hardik Pandya,”Laxman told Star Sports.
3. Virender Sehwag:
Known for speaking his mind out, Virender Sehwag had boldly said that MS Dhoni should have been banned for walking on the field and confronting the umpires during an IPL match in 2019. Dhoni was docked only 50 percent of his match fee for entering the field of play to confront the umpire for backtracking on a no-ball.
“I feel Dhoni was let off easy and should have been banned for at least two [or] three games. Because if he did this, tomorrow another captain can do the same. Then what is the value of an umpire?” Sehwag had told Cricbuzz.
“I feel he should have been banned for a few games by IPL to set an example. He should have stayed outside and instead have talked to the fourth umpire with the walkie-talkie,” Sehwag added.
2. Gautam Gambhir:
Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni’s love-hate relationship is well known. Gambhir has taken a shot at Dhoni quite a number of times. Well, he took another shot at him after his retirement in 2018. He took a pot shot at former India captain MS Dhoni’s selection policy during the 2012 CB series in Australia.
Gambhir had revealed that Dhoni made the decision to not play him, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag together in the XI, rather giving opportunities to youngsters before the 2015 World Cup. However, with the Indian team struggling for results, Dhoni went back on his decision and included the trio with Sehwag and Tendulkar opening, and Gambhir coming in at one down.
“f you take a decision, back your decision. Don’t back on something on which you have already decided,” Gambhir had said.
“In the 2012 Tri-series in Australia, Dhoni declared that he can’t play all three (Gambhir, Sachin and Sehwag) of us together as he was looking ahead at the 2015 World Cup.
“It was a massive shock, I think it would have been a massive shock for any cricketer. I have not heard anyone be told in 2012 that they would never be a part of the 2015 World Cup. I always had the impression that if you keep scoring runs, age is a just a number,” Gambhir added.
1. Sachin Tendulkar:
Sachin Tendulkar is one of the few cricketers who refrain from criticising others. However, he too could not help but criticise Dhoni after seeing his poor knock against England.
“I felt slightly disappointed, it could have been much better. I was also not happy with the partnership between Kedar and Dhoni, it was very slow. We batted 34 overs of spin bowling and scored 119 runs. This was one area where we didn’t look comfortable at all. There was no positive intent,” Tendulkar was quoted as saying by India Today.