• Home
  • Player Stories
  • When Ms Dhoni Stopped Rohit Sharma And Team From Celebrating Mcg Win Against Australia

When MS Dhoni Stopped Rohit Sharma And Team From Celebrating MCG Win Against Australia

image-lm4mrpfqMS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma complete a run in MCG (Twitter)

MS Dhoni, a tactical mastermind, showed first signs of his captaincy genius back during his early leadership days itself.

During India’s 2008 tri-series tour of Australia, Dhoni with his penchant for strategic success downplayed the egos of the then World Champions in their own den. By merely stopping an overenthusiastic Indian team from celebrating their historic win over Australia at the iconic MCG, the skipper set up a path to a greater glory for his side on the same tour.

When MS Dhoni stopped young Rohit Sharma from celebrating

Team India, months after capturing the T20 World Cup in South Africa under new captain MS Dhoni, toured Australia for a tri-nation ODI series in February 2008.

Prior to the series, the two sides were also engaged in a hard-fought four-match Test tussle on Australian shores, which saw hosts prevailing in the end under controversial circumstances.

While a lot was at stake for Team India following their Test drubbing, the Australians had a point to prove less than a year after claiming their third successive ODI World Cup in West Indies. The two titans took field against each other on February 10 for the second time in their ODI tri-series, albeit for the first time under clear whether conditions.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who won the toss, instantly lived to regret his decision as his star-studded top-order was jolted by a youthful Indian pace attack. The likes of Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan had dismantled Ponting’s pantheons for just 159 in 43 overs, where Michael Hussey’s 65 and Matthew Hayden’s flying edges made up for most of the scoring.

image-lm4mwyy2Ishant Sharma finished with figures of 4-38 (Twitter)

The Indians, following handy runs from Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir, eventually slipped to 102-5 before captain MS Dhoni and young Rohit Sharma overcame team’s early jitters to guide them past the finishing line.

Remarkably, when the ‘Men in Blue’ were 10 runs away from securing the chase, Dhoni relayed a message to the dressing room, instructing them not to celebrate the win in any form.

As it turns out, the wicketkeeper-batsman wanted Australians to know that India’s emphatic win over them was not a big deal for the tourists, thus indirectly implying that the hosts can expect more of such results in the coming weeks.

India’s lack of celebration may well have played into Australian minds, as MS Dhoni and co. went on to win the tri-series 2-0 in the ‘Best of Three Finals’ towards the end.

The tri-series win ‘Down Under’ also reaffirmed India’s rise in white-ball cricket under the guise of their new captain, one which heralded with their T20 World Cup win a few months ago in South Africa.