5 Instances where MS Dhoni showed his smartness on the field

One of the major factors behind MS Dhoni’s success as captain at International cricket and also in the IPL has been his smart thinking. The keeper-batsman has control of the things that happen around in a given match. He tries to take a gamble with the situation and most of them go his way.

Dhoni’s presence of mind with respect to bowling changes did help India clinch 2007 WT20 and 2013 Champions Trophy. There are quite a lot of examples from Dhoni’s career where he turned the matches with his smartness.

Here we look at a few occasions where Dhoni’s sharp thinking benefited his team on the field:

5. Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians in Mumbai, 2010

Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings faced off at the Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium in the 2010 edition final. It was the first time both the captains of an IPL final were Indian players. CSK, who batted first, finished with 168/5 in their 20 overs thanks to an unbeaten 57 off 35 balls by Suresh Raina. MI messed around their batting order and left a lot to chase towards the end.

Kieron Pollard walked in at No.8 when MI was needing 55 runs from only 18 deliveries. Pollard had the reputation of chasing impossible targets as well and showed a glimpse of that by smashing 22 runs in the 18th over bowled by Doug Bollinger. The West Indian all-rounder smashed a boundary past Albie Morkel in the 19th over which made MS Dhoni place Matthew Hayden just to the left of Morkel’s run-up.

Pollard ended up hitting the last ball of the penultimate over straight to the Dhoni’s made up fielding position. MI scored only three more runs and lost the match by 22 runs. A similar strategy worked against Pollard in the 2017 IPL final between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant. Pollard found straight long-off fielder in Adam Zampa’s bowling only a couple of balls after smashing a maximum. It is, however, unsure if it was Dhoni’s idea or skipper Smith’s plan.