Former India fast bowler RP Singh recalled an instance from the first-ever T20 World Cup which convinced him of MS Dhoni’s strategic acumen. Singh, who is considered one of Dhoni’s closest friends in the cricketing circuit, was an integral part of the tournament in South Africa which India won. Even though Dhoni did not get a huge score in the tournament – his scores read 33, 24, 10*, 45, 36 and 6, Singh reckons Dhoni’s presence made the big difference.
“For me, it was during the T20 World Cup final in 2007 that I got the sense he is a very special kind of a player. He was not the same Dhoni I had been interacting with. If you look closely, MS didn’t have any defining batting performance in that tournament but he was always there, almost in every match,” Singh told Cricket.com.
Singh, who picked up 12 wickets in the tournament, including figures of 4/13 against South Africa, revealed an instance from the T20 World Cup where Dhoni was one step ahead of the opposition batsman and almost foresaw what was going to happen.
“In the final of the T20 World Cup, MS told me in advance that Kamran Akmal would be bowled as his feet were not moving. He asked me to forget about other things and just concentrate on bowling line and length,” Singh added. “I realized that he had got a tremendous reading of batsmen because I would have bowled differently to Akmal. I had asked for a different fielding set-up. But he convinced me in a way it was easier to follow.”
As it turned out, Dhoni was spot on. Akmal misjudged the bounce and with his feet rooted to the crease, played a nothing shot – almost a swipe down the wrong line – missing the ball altogether and had his stumps rattled. Another incident.
