Speaking to India News, Irfan Pathan pays warm tribute to MSD

In 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 which is outstanding because you know, if you have talent you need to be backed up in difficult situations.

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 one-day team. So these are some of the great memories in Australia and we used to enjoy each other’s company.

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 bowler. So there are a few things he did which was outstanding and you know people will keep talking about going forward as well.