MS Dhoni is one of the most successful captains in the history of cricket. Very few captains can read the game like Dhoni does. One of the main reasons behind his success is that he does not lose his cool under pressure and tends to make the right decisions more often than not. It is quite rare to see a risky move from Dhoni not paying off.
The best example is giving the last over of the ICC T20 World Cup 2007 Final to Joginder Sharma. Even though MS Dhoni had the experienced option available in form of Harbhajan Singh, he preferred to give the last over to Joginder, who had just made his debut a few days earlier. The risk paid off as Sharma took the prized wicket of Misbah-ul-Haq, and India won the ICC T20 World Cup 2007.
There have been many such instances in Dhoni’s career. Many other captains have tried to take risks like Dhoni, but not all of them paid off. Here’s a list of two instances when a captain tried a move like Dhoni, but it did not pay off.
1. Hardik Pandya gave last over of GT vs RR match to Noor Ahmad
Noor Ahmad made his IPL debut for the Gujarat Titans on April 16 against the Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The Titans and the Royals played a thrilling game, which went down to the wire.
Captain Hardik Pandya had the options of Alzarri Joseph and in-form Mohit Sharma to bowl the 20th over, but he went with the debutant Noor Ahmad. Shimron Hetmyer won the match for RR with a six off Ahmad’s bowling.
2. Babar Azam pushed keeper back for spinner Mohammad Nawaz
In ICC T20 World Cup 2022, Babar Azam gave the 20th over of the match against India to Mohammad Nawaz. Interestingly, he kept Mohammad Rizwan slightly away from the stumps, reminding fans of how MS Dhoni stood behind for Ravindra Jadeja in a Test against England.
The move backfired a bit as Nawaz could not bowl his natural deliveries. Rizwan was brought up again soon. In the end, India won a famous win at the MCG.
