MS Dhoni once lost his cool over S Sreesanth during an international match in South Africa so much so that he asked the then team manager Ranjib Biswal to send the former India fast bowler home.
India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin has detailed the incidence in his autobiography titled I Have The Streets- A Kutty Cricket Story.
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Ashwin clearly remembers what happened during the middle of that contest held in Port Elizabeth (now known as Gqeberha) in 2010 as it was him who was relaying Dhoni’s messages to the dressing room.
Ashwin, the second India bowler to clinch 500 wickets in Test cricket, recalls how he was one water duty during the match and Dhoni casually asked him about the whereabouts of Sreesanth who was a reserve for that particular contest.
“I take water. MS drinks. Two overs later, I take more. He drinks more. Then again. I have carried more water for MS than anyone else. When I go in for the drink break, MS asks, ‘Where is Sree?’ Ashwin writes.
“It is possibly the most neutral way of asking a question. It is also the MS way. You just can’t make out why he is asking. I don’t know what to tell him because I don’t know what it might lead to. MS insists on finding out. I tell him Sree is upstairs in the dressing room. He tells me to tell Sree he has to come down and sit with the other reserves,” he added.
He continues, “Anyway, on the way back from the drinks break, I am wondering how, while keeping wicket in an international match, MS even noticed that Sree was not sitting downstairs. I go back and tell M. Vijay, who is in his cooling glasses with his feet up on another chair, ‘Hey, Monk, MS asked Sree to come down.”
“Monk tells me, ‘Hey, you go and tell him. Don’t expect me to do that.’”
“……I go into the changing room and I tell him, ‘Sree, MS wants you to come down.’ ‘Why? You can’t carry water?’ responds Sreesanth.”
“I tell him I didn’t say anything. He said he wants you to come down. He said the reserves should be together for the game. Sree says, ‘Okay, you go. I will come.’”
Later on, Ashwin recalls, he was out on the field with a helmet but with Sreesanth still in the dressing room, Dhoni was furious.
“I return to my drink duties. The next time I have to go with a helmet. This time I can sense MS is angry, and I have never seen him lose his cool. ‘Where is Sree? What is he doing?’ MS asks sternly.”
Sreesanth, Ashwin writes, was getting a massage.
An infuriated Dhoni asked Ashwin to speak to Biswal and book Sreesanth a ticket for home.
“I tell him he is getting a massage. MS doesn’t say anything. In the next over, he calls me to return the helmet. He is calm now. While giving me the helmet, he says, ‘Do one thing. Go to Ranjib sir. Tell him Sree is not interested in being here. Ask him to book his ticket for tomorrow so he can go back to India,” Ashwin said.
“I am stunned. I’m not sure what to say. I am just staring at his face. MS goes, ‘What happened? You don’t understand English either now?’” he added.
The message though worked like a charm.
“Sree quickly gets up and gets dressed. Not only that, but now he assumes the drinks duties. The next time MS needs a drink, Sree makes sure he charges out. Instead of taking the drink from him, MS motions for me to come over. ‘Did you tell Ranjib sir or not?’ he asks me.”
“MS and Sree sort it out later, but during that period I am caught in a situation in which I would ideally be laughing but am too scared to do so,” Ashwin said.
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