SPECIAL COMMENTARY
INDIA NEWS
Australian legend Matthew Hayden AM pays tribute to M.S. Dhoni
Mr Matthew Hayden AM
Exclusive conversation with India News
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“And my message for MS is that he has been a great inspiration for me and for me to be involved with him and his family or anything where he would like me, I will be there always.” -Matthew Hayden AM
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When was the first time you saw MSD and in what format did you play against him for the first time and what was your first impression of him? My impression of MS Dhoni has been consistent. He was a very natural and consistent leader. He was not someone who would sit on the corner of the dressing room and give orders. He very much left words secondary to actions and was a captain who led from the front. According to me, he goes down as one of the great leaders of the game. His leadership not only in terms of his own performance but from the kind of public pressure and scrutiny that happens on the stature of Indian cricketers. He always had a very calm, warm, and hands-on type approach. MS became a test player in 2005 and the captain of the Indian test cricket team in 2009. Indian team became number one for the first time in test cricket rankings. How do you see him as a captain and also as a wicketkeeper in tests? In tests MSD was a little bit like Adam Gilchrist — an impactful player. There are very few players like Adam Gilchrist who had that ability to take the game away
from the opposition. MS is one amongst those. It seems like his background and growing up in a small country town in Ranchi helped him in fighting back his way out always. It was this kind of style and nature that overseas players feared the most about MS Dhoni and that he could produce some extraordinary innings. He was very sound and had lightning reflexes. I think a hallmark of MS was his instinctive reactions taking the bails off-spin when spin was operating. Ravichandran Ashwin and of course Harbhajan come to mind whom he played against. He just knew as a batsman that if you took things for granted getting out of your crease, you’d be stumped.
was very important. In that semifinal match in 2007, the Indian side had some natural players of the shorter version of the game and MSD led from the front. You have been his teammate in the Chennai Super Kings, so what was that story about the Mongoose (the bat)? I love and enjoy innovation, T20 cricket was all about innovation. So, I was always looking for an edge around the innovation. For two years, I was practicing with this shorten bat. But, when it all comes down to it, you have to have the courage to try such innovations. Someone has to road test for the first time and in my game, with the amount
of resources and practice I had, it was ready to go. But, not according to MS. He said to me that he will give me anything I want in life to not use Mongoose bat (chuckle). You tried very hard to convince him that you have done a lot of practice with it. Did that change his mind? There is a lot of innovation off and away from the field to play. But, the tradition of the game is such that it’s a very conservative game. So, with that in mind, it does not become a great deal of priority to look for innovation within the product. The moment bats got thicker and every form of player was jumping up and down saying
You have played against MS Dhoni in the one-day internationals. Can you share your memories of the ICC 2007 T-20 semi-finals in South Africa?
it’s almost a cheating. Well, if you go to the gym and you are strong enough to wield an axe out in the middle, I think one should play on. That’s the natural advantage of working hard away from the field so that you can progress on the field. That’s the whole point of training. So, I always loved innovations, and sometimes MS and I had differences of opinion, but MS would always back me a hundred percent. What message would you like to give to MS Dhoni and Indian team?
In many ways for the very first time, Australia carried an attitude that was not befitting of a national team prioritising T20 cricket. And it was on every level. You have to give credit to India where they are taking T20 cricket to such a high level. In many ways, the conception of IPL was based on the fantastic win Indian team had at the 2007 world cup. So, in these revitalisation of shorter versions of the game, MS Dhoni’s leadership
Here’s an argument which I have regularly with not just MS but also with India in general. That Australia by far has the best mangoes. So, this is a challenge to MS Dhoni to taste our Bowen mangoes, which are right here in Queensland and then decide who has better mangoes, India or Australia. I am sure he will be re-wiring himself post-retirement and will have some great purpose postretirement. And my message for MS is that he has been a great inspiration for me and for me to be involved with him and his family or anything where he would like me, I will be there always. By Ashutosh Misra, Kartik Pratap Singh and Agasyta Yeturi
Speaking to India News, Irfan Pathan pays warm tribute to MSD
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n terms of what Dhoni has achieved in his career has been nothing short of an outstanding career which has given so much laurels to the country and himself. He has been a role model to many youngsters who want to be a really good attacking batsman as well as the wicket keeper. The way he led the side with the result-oriented thinking was fantastic. Obviously in his career, he has seen few ups and downs where he got really good support from the BCCI
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which is outstanding because you know, if you have talent you need to be backed up in difficult situations.
one-day team. So these are some of the great memories in Australia and we used to enjoy each other’s company.
Playing with him has been an amazing journey. I remember even in Australia the first thing we used to do was to look for Nando’s and when we landed in any city while travelling. Winning the VB series in Australia in 2008 and the Perth Test match in 2008 were some of the finest moments and Dhoni was part of it as well in the Test match and as the captain of
I was one of the guys who used to sit right in front of his seat in the bus. He was designated with the last seat and the second last seat was mine. We remember having so much fun in those bus rides, which can be long specially in the journey of cricket and we remember having so much fun. Not only that, in terms of the way he exercised decision making
under pressure and that was the attitude and his biggest strength, where he detached himself from the bowler and just thought as a leader, what he could do because, you know, as a bowler he knew that only the bowler has to be under pressure and he needs to stay calm because, you know, as a wicketkeeper, he himself can’t bowl, so only the bowler can do that and he has to go through that. And by not putting extra pressure he did make the job easier comparatively for the
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bowler. So there are a few things he did which was outstanding and you know people will keep talking about going forward as well.
SEPTEMBER 2020
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