Indian Premier League: World Cup-winning captain of former India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni is famous for being ice-cool on the field and composed under all circumstances, however testing they may be. But there was one such instance when MS Dhoni, very unlike his character, lost his cool and that too on the batting coach of the five-time IPL champions’ team, Michael Hussey.
The former colleague of Dhoni and the current batting coach shared an incident in which the wicketkeeper-batter left him shocked in his first term as the coach in the money-spinner league.
To put things into perspective, Michael Hussey was appointed as a batting coach for CSK in 2018, when the franchise came back to the competition after the two-year suspension. The eventual 2018 league winners were required to play Qualifier 1 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Next, Hussey broke the news that he could not get too technical with Dhoni, even if he was discussing how to play Rashid Khan and outsmart the Afghanistan spinner.
“I love it. The talent there is unbelievable and you get to coach, ‘loosely’. It is more like not to try and stuff them (players) up, with some of the greatest players around,” Hussey told the Backchat Podcast.
“To be working with MS Dhoni, for instance, the best finisher in the history of the game in my eyes… I kind of used to pinch myself,” Hussey further added before he disclosed a shaky conversation,” he added.
‘I’ll bat my own f*g way’
Michael Hussey further went on to reveal how an exchange of information about Rashid Khan’s variations did not agree with the wicketkeeper-batter in the Qualifier 1 match. To explain, in the match, Dhoni was bowled over by Rashid Khan. Nevertheless, CSK won the game.
“The previous evening before the big match, the analyst sends me through this split screen of Rashid Khan.”. And it’s pretty much when he bowls his wrong’uns, he runs his fingers together when he bowls his leggy, his fingers are apart. ‘Ooh this is good’. But it’s the night before the game so I’m sitting on thinking do I post this out to the batters or don’t I? I sat staring at it for an hour because you don’t want to put too much junk guys’ head the night before the game,” Hussey said.
“We were like four down for nothing the next day and Dhoni’s in with Faf at the other. Rashid Khan comes in first ball and bowls the wrong’un. Dhoni goes for the cover drive, hitting against the spin, bowled.”. You realize that this fellow is a megastar, bigger than god. He comes along and fixes me with his stare and says, ‘I’ll bat my own f***ing way, thanks’ and sits down beside me. Oh, Coaching career, over! I sat out the rest of the game like a dazed mullet,” he said.
But Hussey let the cat out of the bag that he is excellent friends with Dhoni, and the two have developed an excellent rapport.
“Dhoni’s a top bloke, and he comes over after the game and said, ‘The info was fantastic, but I needed more time and a couple of net sessions to get my head around it,” he said.
