'Unke Saamne Meri Bolti Bandh…': Yuzvendra Chahal on MS Dhoni

image-lk57h81qYuzvendra Chahal with MS Dhoni at the 2019 WC (Twitter)

Yuzvendra Chahal has often credited his success to his former national teammate and wicketkeeping legend MS Dhoni. The Indian spinner has so far played 72 ODIs and 75 T20I matches for his country, having claimed 121 and 91 wickets in the two formats respectively.

Chahal was at his imperious best during India’s 2018 tour of South Africa, where he along with Kuldeep Yadav wrecked hosts with absolute destruction. The two spinners collected 16 and 17 wickets respectively in ODIs and were instrumental in India’s 5-1 win in the six-match series.

Quite recently, the 33-year-old reminisced the tour and recalled an incident involving MS Dhoni. The ace spinner also took this opportunity to express his admiration for the legendary wicketkeeper, and admitted that he was and continues to remain in awe of the former Indian cricketer.

Chahal says he is tongue-tied in front of Dhoni

Yuzvendra Chahal made his ODI and T20I debuts on a single Zimbabwe tour back in 2016 under the leadership of then captain MS Dhoni. The ace spinner also toured South Africa in 2018 for the white-ball segment of the all-format series.

Chahal, in a recent conversation with Ranveer Allahbadia on the latter’s YouTube channel, opened up on his admiration for Dhoni. He said:

“He is only person, unke saamne aate hai meri bolti bandh ho jaati hai [I am tongue-tied in front of him].”

He also recalled an incident from the 2018 tour, where he was battered all over the place by South African batsman Heinrich Klaasen in one of the T20Is. The 32-year-old added:

“We were playing a T20 match against South Africa in Centurion. For the first time, I was hit for 64 runs in four overs. Heinrich Klaasen was hammering me, so MS Dhoni asked me whether I would bowl round the wicket. I said okay, but then Klaasen hit me for a six.”

Chahal narrated an important lesson Dhoni gave him that day. He further added that he blindly trusted the wicketkeeping legend and would follow his advice blindly.

“I was walking back when Mahi bhai came to me and told me, ‘aaj tere din nahi hai, koi baat nahi’ [Today is not your day, it’s okay]. From that experience, I realized that even if you have an off day, you can still support the team.”

“I blindly trusted him. If he used to tell me something, I used to follow it.”