With stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma rested, Indian cricket fans were treated to a heady spell of nostalgia as MS Dhoni took over the reins for his team’s inconsequential Asia Cup clash against Afghanistan.
While the fans lapped up the occasion and savoured the image of Captain Cool back in action, young left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav had to face the wrath of Dhoni as he grew frustrated with the gritty display from the Afghanistan batsmen.
Kuldeep asked for a field change while bowling and Dhoni appeared to have turned down the request, but the bowler kept arguing. Dhoni seldom loses his cool, but seemed have been irritated by the youngster’s demands. The stump mic picked the skipper reprimanding Kuldeep: “Bowling karega ya bowler change karein? (Will you bowl or should we change the bowler?)”
Upon hearing the warning, Kuldeep immediately fell silent and got to back to his mark to bowl the delivery.
Kuldeep picked up two wickets in the game which ended in a dramatic tie as as India were bowled out for 252 in the chase.
This isn’t the first time that Dhoni has snapped at Kuldeep. Earlier this year, the wrist-spinner had recalled a similar encounter with the wicketkeeper-batsman.
Kuldeep recollected how Dhoni had reprimanded him during a T20 between India and Sri Lanka in Indore in 2017.
The bowler was getting smashed around. Dhoni had come up to Kuldeep asking him to tweak the field. Without thinking much, the bowler had said the field was fine, attracting the full wrath of Dhoni’s anger.
“Wherever I pitched the ball, it went for six. The ground was so small. After every six, I would look at Mahi. He would say, ‘It wasn’t that far, you should keep it further’,” Kuldeep revealed in the show ‘What the Duck’.
“And when I was bowling my fourth over, the batsman reverse swept me for four. Mahi bhai came to me and said, ‘Remove cover, move him deep and bring point up’,” Kuldeep added.
“And I said, ‘No Mahi bhai, that’s okay’.”
“After hearing this, Mahi bhai got angry and said, ‘Kya main pagal hoon yahan pe? Mai 300 ODI khela hoon (Do you think I’m mad? I’ve played 300 ODIs).’”
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