Usually, MS Dhoni is known as the captain cool of Indian Cricket, but there had been quite a few occasions when captain cool lost his cool. One from a recent memory that is still very fresh in the minds of the fans dates back to 2019 IPL when Dhoni had rushed to the middle, confronting the umpire over a no ball. Then there was the famous death stare that he gave to Aussie fast bowler Mitchell Johnson which still remains fresh more than a decade later.
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Nevertheless, these are some of the well-documented incidents when Dhoni’s rage was caught on camera. There was also one which was not! However, former fielding coach R Sridhar wrote about this incident in his book ‘Coaching Beyond’ where he gave fine details of an angry Indian captain pulling up his side for poor fielding.
The incident happened during the second ODI match between India and West Indies that was played at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi in 2014. India, who had lost the 1st ODI and were trailing 0-1 in the series, took the second match by 48 runs but frailties persisted. Had it not been for the captain’s unbeaten 51 off 40 balls, India would have struggled to reach 263/7.
At one stage, West Indies were cruising at 170/2, before imploding to lose eight wickets for 45 runs and getting bowled out for 215. A visibly upset Dhoni had said after the match: “I feel quite a few things are missing. We have to pull our socks up. We have not played to our potential. This game is a crucial eye opener for us. We are on the winning side, but we could have lost this.”
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“In the dressing room, he ripped the team to shreds and gave them an ultimatum, making it clear that if they didn’t meet certain standards in fielding and fitness, they would not make the World Cup cut, no matter what name they answer to. That showed me the kind of fielding culture he was looking to establish in white-ball cricket,” he added.
The match Sridhar was referring belonged to one of the most infamous home series in recent times. West Indies were having a dispute with their own board over player wages and eventually they pulled out of the series. At the toss during the 4th ODI in Dharamsala, then skipper Dwayne Bravo revealed that the Men in Maroon are set to abandon the series.
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