Indian cricket has witnessed some legends come through in its history of playing cricket, and one of them is wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MS Dhoni).
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the most successful captain for the Indian cricket team, having won almost all the ICC trophies such as the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2013 Champions Trophy, and the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup in India. Dhoni has, throughout his career has been very famous for his work behind the stumps and his batting. But, very few people know that MS Dhoni can also bowl well and bowled during various series.
Former cricketer and now commentator Aakash Chopra shared an exciting story about MS Dhoni and his bowling. Aakash Chopra had Dinesh Karthik on a chat show on his YouTube channel. During the chat show, Aakash Chopra narrated a story from way back in 2004 when Dhoni and Karthik use to play for India A team.
Aakash Chopra said that he remembers advising MS Dhoni during India A’s tour match against Kenya and Zimbabwe, but the wicketkeeper-batsman refused it. So what was the advice?
Mahendra Singh Dhoni bowled to Dinesh Karthik in Africa
Aakash Chopra said that he remembers telling Dhoni not to bowl to Dinesh Karthik because he was Dhoni’s competitor for a chance to play as a wicketkeeper for India, but Dhoni refused to take his advice and decided to bowl to Dinesh Karthik
Now we all know what happened next.
Dinesh Karthik got the opportunity first to represent India in that wicketkeeper slot, but later Dhoni also made his debut for India. Talking about their stats, Dinesh Karthik played 94 ODIs, 32 T20Is, and 26 Test matches, while Dhoni played 350 ODIs, 98 T20Is, and 90 Test matches.
With Mahendra Singh Dhoni now retired from all forms of cricket and Dinesh Karthik towards the last phases of his career (he has already started working as an analyst), Rishabh Pant is being expected to fill up the vast void left by Dhoni’s retirement. As long as Dhoni was in the team, Indian team selectors had never had to worry about the wicketkeeper position
