'Dhoni makes his own decisions' - Former teammate on MS Dhoni choosing when to bat in a game

When Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were banned for two years in a spot-fixing case, MS Dhoni featured for Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) in IPL 2016 and 2017. While he was the team leader in the initial season, MS Dhoni was replaced by Steven Smith for IPL 2017, and Dhoni played as a wicketkeeper batter for RPS.

This significant move was made after RPS endured an abysmal run in 2017, winning only five of their 14 games and ending in the seventh position with a mere ten points. Under Smith, RPS did exceedingly well and reached the final.

However, they fell two runs short of the target against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the final. Rising Pune Supergiant was scrapped once the ban was lifted, along with Gujarat Lions (GL) from IPL 2018 onwards.

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Daniel Christian, who was part of RPS’ runners-up campaign in 2017, opened up about his time with the team and his experiences playing under Smith. He also made an interesting revelation about MS Dhoni during his chat.

He wouldn’t tell anyone: Daniel Christian on MS Dhoni’s batting position

Talking to the WillowTalk Podcast, Daniel Christian revealed that even though Steve Smith was the captain, MS was the leader of the team. Dhoni used to shuffle fielders according to his convenience on the field in IPL 2017.

“Smithy was captain, but MS was the leader of the team. Even though Smithy was captain, he (Dhoni) would be standing there and point blokes and say move there, blokes here and there and doing their thing.”

Christian then talked about Dhoni’s batting order, stating MS didn’t tell anyone and simply walked when a wicket fell. Steve Smith and Stephen Fleming didn’t do anything and let MS do his thing.

“Even in the batting order, the best bit about MS was (that) he’d just put up on his gear and walk out like he was playing Under-10s. If we lost a wicket maybe at 12-13 overs, maybe Ben Stoke, or me or someone due to go next. Dhoni would just stand up, put his gear on and just go like that. He wouldn't tell anyone. Smudge (Smith) wasn’t going to do anything and neither was Stephen Fleming as the coach. You just let him go out there and get the job done.”

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