Every time MS Dhoni came into the arena to bat in the Indian T20 League, Gautam Gambhir, during his stint with the Kolkata franchise as their skipper, would bring the field closer and let the aggressive face a spinner. Even after the Chennai franchise got banned for a couple of years, Dhoni, who represented the Pune team, got to face the mighty Kolkata attack.
It was one method that seemed to work even if the former Indian opener came up with it repetitively. Robin Uthappa, who was with the Kolkata franchise then, as the wicketkeeper, said that the question was best pointed out at Gambhir than to him.
“That question is better directed to Gautam Gambhir than me. I was just a wicketkeeper at that point in time. But I think (it was done) just to put that extra pressure on him. Initially when he comes in to bat, just to force him to play a big shot. It was an in-and-out kind of a field where you had a lot of fielders very close to the bat,” Uthappa said to ESPNCricinfo.
Gautam wanted to take advantage of his tentativeness: Uthappa
Further, the right-handed batter said that Gambhir used to take advantage of Dhoni’s tentativeness and added that the Test-like field for the World Cup-winning captain worked. Uthappa also revealed the thoughts behind letting the veteran face spinner Piyush Chawla early in the innings.
“Piyush Chawla was bowling. He is one of the best leg-spinners to have played the Indian T20 League and records state as much. He can be a very deceptive bowler. And everyone knows that when MS comes in to bat, he can be a little tentative and Gautam wanted to take advantage of the fact,” said Uthappa further.
Reasonably, Dhoni’s ability to face the spinners faded over years and the batter framed a new method to chase the targets down. For the unversed, the right-handed batter was one of the first to frame out the method of taking it down to the last over and chase the target.
