There is a reason why MS Dhoni has been called 'Captain Cool' by his fans and the media. It is mostly down to his ability to stay calm and composed on the field, irrespective of the match situation, and not reveal his true emotions. But that is only on the field, as claimed by former Chennai Super Kings teammate Subramaniam Badrinath, who revealed an unheard story about Dhoni losing his cool in the CSK dressing room.
Speaking to InsideSport, Badrinath recalled an incident from the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), where CSK lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore in a low-scoring match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Albie Morkel picked four wickets as RCB were restricted to just 126 for eight, where former India captain Rahul Dravid top-scored with a 39-ball 47. In response, incumbent CSK coach and former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming got Chennai off to a promising start with a 39-ball 44, before the home team lost a flurry of wickets to be restricted to only 111 for eight.
“He is also a human…he has lost his cool,” Badrinath said. “But that has never happened on the field. He would never let the opposition know that he has lost his cool. In this match against RCB in Chennai, we were chasing 110 odd. We lost wickets in a cluster there and we ended up losing the match.
The former India batter added that the incident happened after his dismissal to ex-India captain Anil Kumble for only 1 off 3. He recalled that Dhoni kicked a water bottle to vent his frustration as he returned to the dressing room. Badrinath revealed that none of the players made any eye contact with him after that, and rather looked to stay away from the captain.
{{/usCountry}}The former India batter added that the incident happened after his dismissal to ex-India captain Anil Kumble for only 1 off 3. He recalled that Dhoni kicked a water bottle to vent his frustration as he returned to the dressing room. Badrinath revealed that none of the players made any eye contact with him after that, and rather looked to stay away from the captain.
{{/usCountry}}"I got out to a lap shot against Anil Kumble. I was LBW. So, I was standing inside the dressing room, and he was coming inside, where there was a small water bottle. MS just kicked it out of the park. I was like, 'Shit, oh my god!' Nobody wants to see that. We just couldn’t make eye contact with him. We were all trying to stay away from him. But that was it. He did not say anything. There was no team meeting regarding that," he added.
Dhoni set for CSK return in IPL 2025?
Dhoni is expected to return to action next year for IPL 2025 as part of Chennai Super Kings with BCCI reportedly slated to move back to the old auction rule of classifying retired international players as uncapped. With Dhoni having hinted that his decision to come back next season would only depend on the retention rules set by the IPL for the upcoming mega auction, the development, as reported by Cricbuzz, comes as a huge boost for his fans and for the CSK management.