Ex-India batter reveals MS Dhoni’s silent outburst in dressing room during an IPL match – Firstpost

Legendary wicketkeeper-batsman and former India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni hasn’t always lived up to his nickname of ‘Captain Cool’, and has lost his temper on a handful of occasions.

One of them was during a match against arch-rivals Royal Challengers Bengaluru (formerly Royal Challengers Bangalore) in which the five-time champions ended up losing the game despite chasing a modest target.

Former India and CSK batter Subramaniam Badrinath revealed how Dhoni made it amply clear he was furious with the team’s performance despite not saying a word.

I remember that one match against RCB we played in Chennai. RCB got out to a very meagre score, 110 or something. I think we were trying to chase it but we lost wickets in there, in a hurry and we ended up losing the match where we couldn’t get 110 against RCB in Chepauk,” Badrinath told InsideSport.

“So I remember I got out to a bad shot, I played this lap shot against Anil Kumble and got myself LBW (leg-before-wicket). So he was coming inside the dressing room and I was standing right there.

“There was a small water bottle in front of me and MS just kicked the bottle right out of the park and we were all trying to avoid eye contact with MS in that dressing room, all of us, we were trying to stay away, steer clear of MS Dhoni,” he added.

The match Badrinath was referring to took place in the inaugural season, in which CSK had restricted RCB to 126/8 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium thanks to Albie Morkel’s 4/32. Anil Kumble’s 3/14 however, helped RCB restrict CSK to 112/8 in reply.

Dhoni was known for his calm on-field demeanour, for having a poker-face expression even during a tense situation with the game on a knife’s edge.

There have, however, been a handful of incidents in which Mahi let his displeasure known, an example of which was his tirade directed at beating partner Manish Pandey during India’s tour of South Africa in 2018.

Dhoni had also stormed the field during a match against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2019, angry over his team being denied a decisive ‘No Ball’.

While largely known for his muted celebrations throughout his career, Dhoni jumped with joy after the last ball of the 2013 Champions Trophy final against England went for a dot, resulting in a five-run victory for the Men in Blue and his third ICC title as captain.