CSK star’s stubbornness forced MS Dhoni to say ‘yeh beard maine dhoop mein safed nahi ki’

Veteran India bowler Mohit Sharma recently narrated the story of how former Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni had once lost his cool after Deepak Chahar did not follow his advice during a match in the 2019 season of the Indian Premier League.

While Chahar has often opened up on instances where Dhoni has scolded him, the former India captain recently opened up on that IPL 2019 match, revealing his side of the story.

Speaking at an event organised by RIGI, Dhoni was made aware of one of Chahar’s old comment, before the senior cricket revealed that the former always had one complaint against him, of not using him as a death-over bowler.

“This happened a few years back. He has always been an excellent cricketer for us. But he always complained against me saying that I never use him in the death overs. I asked him, ‘When you are bowling so well in the powerplay and are taking wickets, then why do you want to bowl in the death?’ On 90 per cent of the matches we used to bowl him with the new ball and use another bowler in the death,” Dhoni recalled.

Hence, in a match against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in IPL 2019, Dhoni handed Chahar the old ball in the penultimate over of the match with the opposition needing 39 runs to win off 12 balls. But the fast bowler ended up bowling back-to-back no balls leaving Dhoni miffed as he scolded Chahar on the field, visuals of which had gone viral back then.

Speaking of that incident, the legendary wicketkeeper-batter revealed that he had specifically advised Chahar against bowling the knuckleball as he sweats a lot, but the latter ignored it leading to the no balls.

“Now he sweats a lot. And he also loves to use variations a lot. He is an intelligent bowler. So I advised him against bowling the knuckleball because he sweats a lot, but he thinks he knows everything. He had to try that. Usko lagta hain humne daari dhoop mein safed ki hain (He thinks my beard turned grey by staying in the sun). That led to no balls. Then I went to him, I can’t say the exact words, but I told him I didn’t want to see all the deliveries in your arsenal. After a lot of thinking, I repeatedly told him to bowl that, but he still did. But at the end of the day, he understood. We all make mistakes and learning from those is important,” he said.

Dhoni set for IPL return in 2025

During the same event in Goa, Dhoni clearly indicated that he wants to enjoy a few more years of his career, thus hinting at his return to IPL for the 2025 season. Later on Saturday, CSK CEO K.S. Viswanathan all but confirmed that Dhoni will be retained by the franchise.

“We also saw what he had said in the press conference. When he says he wants to enjoy it for a few more years, what more do we want? We are happy and will sit and discuss with him once he returns to Ranchi on October 28 or 29,” Viswanathan was quoted by Sportstar.