MS Dhoni reveals the advice he gave himself ahead of his debut game against Bangladesh

There are some dates that proceed to etch themselves in the folklore for the coming years. Year-by-year we celebrate the memories relate to these days, reminisce about the good times, social media gets flooded with hashtags while writers churn out editorials in a bid to recreate and relive that entire saga.

If we talk about Indian cricket, there are a lot of dates that have impinged themselves in immortality, and no matter how many years or centuries pass away, they’ll continue to be remembered or talked about.

One of those dates is 24th December. This was the very date on which Mahendra Singh Dhoni turned out for the first time for the Men in Blue. The former Indian captain, who went on to win almost every single trophy there is in International or franchise cricket, MS Dhoni is celebrating his 15th anniversary as an Indian cricketer today. And, on this occasion, the champion cricketer revealed as to what he told himself ahead of his India debut way back in 2004.

“I slept very well, I still remember that day. I was not under a lot of pressure, just wanted to be myself. What I told myself was that I have done really well in all the matches that I have played so far for my state team and India A team that I represented. I have to be myself whatever the situation may be. I have to go in and be expressive on the field,” Dhoni said in a video shared by Chennai Super Kings.

MS Dhoni’s debut game [0 off 1 ball] was a perfect example of ‘a calm before the storm’

Dhoni’s debut game came in the series opener between Bangladesh and India in the winter of 2004. And, not only did his maiden outing with the bat [where he was run-out for a first-ball duck] but also the overall series [India lost their first-ever ODI to Bangladesh in that series] didn’t turn out to be a fairytale affair for the champion cricketer.

However, the then skipper Sourav Ganguly persisted with Dhoni, and in the home series against Pakistan promoted him to the No.3 spot. Dhoni grabbed the opportunity with both hands by shellacking 148 in the second ODI at Vizag, the rest, as they say, is history.

Watch the video here:

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#Thala @mahi7781 recounts the eve of his ODI Debut exactly 15 years ago. Watch the day-long specials on @starsportsindia on the occasion of #15YearsOfMSD! #WhistlePodu 🦁💛

A post shared by Chennai Super Kings (@chennaiipl) on Dec 22, 2019 at 7:53pm PST