'That was a big mistake' - MS Dhoni reflects on losing cool & entering field during IPL 2019

Legendary Indian wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni who is known to be calm and composed under pressure, has had moments where emotions got the better of him. One such rare incident took place during the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL), where Dhoni rushed onto the field to confront the umpires over a controversial no-ball decision. Looking back at the incident, the former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper admitted that it was a mistake, but happens once in a while.

The incident occurred on April 11, 2019, during an IPL match between CSK and Rajasthan Royals at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. In the final over of the match, the Chennai team required eight runs off the last three balls when Royals' bowler Ben Stokes delivered a waist-high full toss. The on-field umpire initially signalled it as a no-ball but later reversed the decision, causing confusion and anger in the CSK camp.

This led to an unexpected reaction from MS Dhoni, who walked onto the field from the dugout to confront the umpires. As a result of his actions, Dhoni was fined 50% of his match fees for breaching the IPL’s code of conduct. Speaking at a recent event, Dhoni opened up about the incident when asked by host Mandira Bedi if he ever lost his cool on the field. 

"Lots of time. It has happened; one of the IPL games, it happened. I just walked on the field. So that was a big mistake. But other than that, also, there have been instances where something gets triggered because we play a sport where the stakes are very high; you're supposed to win every game," he said as quoted by TOI.

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We were in the dugout and we were like 'please don't go': Mohit Sharma

Earlier, Indian pacer Mohit Sharma also spoke about the incident and revealed the reason for Dhoni's anger. He revealed the dressing room atmosphere during the over.

"We were in the dugout and we were like 'please don't go, don't go'. But he didn't even look behind. The way he went out on the field, then everyone was like that lion has entered the ground. He was already furious as he got out at the wrong time. The game was in a bit tricky phase and he couldn't afford to get out because generally, he doesn't leave it to others. He came, sat and all of a sudden the incident happened. He asked, 'he gave it a no-ball no?' We were like, 'yeah, he did signal.' Then he just didn't stop. When he returned, he asked me to bring the laptop. Then the video analyst showed him the video and he was like, 'it was a no-ball," Mohit Sharma said on the 2 Sloggers Podcast.

Meanwhile, despite stepping down from captaincy before IPL 2024, the veteran was retained for INR 4 crore ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. The wicketkeeper-batsman will have an opportunity to register his name in CSK's history as he is just 18 runs away from surpassing Suresh Raina’s record (4687 runs) to become the highest run-scorer for the franchise in IPL history. The five-time champions are set to open their IPL 2025 campaign against arch-rivals Mumbai Indians on March 23 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.