MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina have shared the Indian dressing room for a long time. They were part of the Indian squad which won the 2011 World Cup. Both were also part of the 2007 World T20 winning squad for India. The two had been mainstays for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. After so much time together, both know each other a lot and Raina opened up about Dhoni in an interview on ‘Breakfast with Champions.’
Explaining Dhoni’s behaviour on and off the field, Raina said that one cannot guess what is going through his mind and you want him to show some more emotions before adding that the former India captain gets angry a lot of times.
“He doesn’t wear goggles and it is very difficult to predict what he is doing. His eyes will remain the same and you feel like telling him that ‘show some emotion’. But he gets angry a lot of time. You can’t see it on the camera but when he knows that there is a TV break, he will say ‘sudhar ja tu‘,” Raina said.
Raina gave an example on how Dhoni once pushed him to build pressure on Umar Akmal during an India-Pakistan game in Pakistan.
“Once we were playing in Pakistan and Umar Akmal was batting and he complaint to Dhoni that Raina is abusing me. I just said I did not abuse him. He asked me what happend and I told him that I was trying to throw at Umar and asked him to score some runs and chase down the target.
“Dhoni told me ‘give him more’. This means break him and build some pressure on him. He a very good reader of the game. He knows what is going to happen and he know the nexr step. He has three games ready like ‘plan A,’ ‘plan B,’ and ‘plan C’. He always takes three plans to the ground whether he batting, fielding, wicketkeeping or captaining the side. He plans in the night and then visialises in the morning using his subconsicous mind,” he remembered.
Dhoni led India to 2011 World Cup win and 2013 Champions Trophy win and Raina was integral part of both the squads. Explaining Dhoni’s onfield strategies, Raina said he is more like a chess player.
“He has made all this around him. He has given the boys chance in the team thinking that this is my team. His game-reading skill was different. Like a chess player, no one can read his move. Like they saying when he is chasing. He visiualises a lot. He steps out and then takes a single. That is not is not his game but he wants to tell the bowler that I can step out as well. He plays with the bowler as well,” he said.
Dhoni gets angry but only when camera is not there, reveals Raina
