Former India skipper MS Dhoni is known to be a cool customer and spinner Kuldeep Yadav has revealed how the wicket-keeper told him that he hasnt been angry in 20 years.
Speaking on ‘ASAP with JSAP’ Instagram video show, Kuldeep spoke about an incident in a T20I game against Sri Lanka in December 2017 in Indore.
“Kusal (Perera) smashed a boundary over the covers. Dhoni Bhai shouted from behind the wickets and asked me to change the fielding. I did not listen to his suggestion and in the next ball, Kusal hit another boundary through the reverse sweep now,” the spinner said.
“Now agitated Dhoni came to me and said, ‘me pagal hu? 300 one-day khela hu, aur samjha raha hu yahan pe.’ (Am I mad? I have played 300 ODIs and you are not listening to me).”
Kuldeep revealed that when he went on to speak to Dhoni after the match and asked if he gets angry in such situations, Dhoni calmed him down and said that he was just trying to scold him to get the best out of the bowler.
“I was so scared of him that day. After the match, I went to him while traveling in the team bus and asked if he ever gets angry. To which Dhoni bhai said: 20 saal se gussa nhi kiya hai (I have not got angry for the last 20 years),” Kuldeep said.
Earlier, Kuldeep had spoken about how Dhoni is missed in the current set-up as he hasn’t played since the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup.
“Mahi bhai obviously brings a lot of experience with him and he has given the Indian team a lot. So when a player like that is not playing of course you miss him. They (Rahul and Pant) are young and are doing well. Both are keeping well so it has not made too much of a difference, but yes, you do miss his presence,” Kuldeep said.
Had everything gone according to plan, both Kuldeep and Dhoni would have been busy featuring in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for their respective franchises. However, the cash-rich league, which was originally scheduled to commence on 29 March has now been suspended indefinitely owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
The virus has already infected over 2 million people globally while over 1 lakh 45 thousand people have lost their lives because of the infection.
In India, there are more than 13,000 infected people already while over 450 have lost their lives after contracting the infection.
There is still no sure shot treatment of the virus and social-distancing, self-isolation and maintenance of hand hygiene remain the only potent weapons to protect oneself from getting infected.
(With inputs from IANS)