Robin Uthappa has revealed how “irritating” it was to play against MS Dhoni.© BCCI/IPL
Since announcing his international retirement in August 2020, former India captain MS Dhoni is only available for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Dhoni will be back in action on Saturday as CSK take on Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. After losing to Gujarat Titans in the tournament opener, CSK defeated Lucknow Super Giants by 12 runs in their previous match, with Dhoni hitting two crucial sixes to express pacer Mark Wood down the order.
Despite not being the same batter anymore, Dhoni’s captaincy credentials still couldn’t be doubted.
Former India and CSK batter Robin Uthappa has revealed how “irritating” it was to play against Dhoni.
“When I played against CSK, I used to be very annoyed. I was very irritated with him. (Narrating an incident playing on-screen) He didn’t have a fine leg for Hazlewood, so I knew he will bowl to this angle (outside-off). I tried getting a boundary there (deep point), and got out. He forces you to play in areas wher eyou’re not used to playing. He plays with batsmen’s mind. He not just forces the batsmen to think differently, he forces the bowlers to think differently as well,” Uthappa said on Jio Cinema.
Uthappa also added Dhoni used to play with the batter’s mind, recalling one such instance during his time with CSK.
“He puts the bowler in a situation where he feels that he need to take that wicket-taking option. Devdutt was playing the pick-up shot really well. So he said, ‘okay, we will force him to play that shot’, and he brought the fine leg more into a leg-gully sort of a position. I was like, ‘where does he come up with these things?’,” he added.
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