Yuzvendra Chahal has revealed how MS Dhoni, the former Indian cricketer motivated him during one of his bad games against South Africa. The Indian spinner shares a strong bond with the former Indian cricketer and he has too often talked about the former player in media interviews in the past.
Yuzvendra Chahal was one of the main spinners of India under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. But, a sudden dip in the bowling form ruled him out of the national side in white-ball cricket. However, the leg-spinner is once again back in the ODI squad for the West Indies tour. Also, he will be reuniting with his teammate Kuldeep Yadav, who is also picked for the tour by the national selectors.
Chahal reveals how MS Dhoni helped him overcome his worst T20I performance
In an interview, Yuzvendra Chahal shed light on MS Dhoni’s nature and how he motivates every player in the team. The leg-spinner asserted that in one of the games he was smashed for 64 runs in his four overs. In that game, Dhoni himself walked up to him and asked the spinner to bowl his set overs and chill.
The Haryana-born spinner mentioned that Dhoni at that time said there is always a bad day for a player in cricket and there is nothing much to worry about it.
“Once, I got hit for 64 runs in a T20I against South Africa in 2018; (Heinrich) Klaasen had smashed me all over the park. Then Mahi (Dhoni) bhai had asked me to come around the wicket. I did exactly that but he hit me for a six over the biggest boundary at mid-wicket.
“Then Mahi bhai came to me and I said, ‘Yes Mahi bhai, ab kya karna hai? (What should I do now?). He said ‘Kuch nahi, mai to waisehi aagaya tere paas (Nothing, I just came to check upon you). I know it’s not your day, you are trying but it isn’t happening. Zyada sochna nahi, apne chaar ka quota khatam kar aur chill kar (Don’t think too much, just finish your four overs and chill.”
“If someone scolds you at that time, your confidence goes down even further. But he told me that it’s just one match as you did so well in ODIs. I also realized that in cricket sometimes you do well and sometimes you don’t,” he further added.
