'He ripped the team to shreds and....': R Sridhar narrates unheard tale of MS Dhoni losing his cool

MS Dhoni served Indian cricket with distinction. During his illustrious career, he amassed 17,266 international runs, slammed 16 tons, accounted for 634 catches and 195 stumpings, and smashed 359 sixes but became a darling of the nation during his captaincy tenure, leading India to all three major ICC titles. While Dhoni was known for his calm demeanour as a leader, there were several occasions when he lost his cool on his teammates.

During the West Indies tour of India in late 2014, Dhoni blasted the Indian players for their shoddy fielding efforts during an ODI at the previously namedFerozshah Kotla Stadium, New Delhi. While India won the game by 48 runs, in defence of 263 for 7, but then skipper Dhoni wasn't pleased with his troops. R Sridhar, India's former fielding coach, recalled the whole incident in his book 'Coaching Beyond'.

"Getting back to my early days with the Indian team... following MS' inputs, we began to get out fielding house in order with the World Cup in mind. We were playing West Indies at the Feroz Shah Kotla in October 2014 - a match we won comfortably but where we were absolutely shoddy on the field. MS was furious at what he perceived to be lack of effort and dipping fitness standards," Sridhar, who became the fielding coach in 2014, said.

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After the match, Dhoni stated, "I feel quite a few things are missing. We have to pull our socks up. We have not played to our potential. This game is a crucial eye opener for us. We are on the winning side, but we could have lost this."

Sridhar revealed that Dhoni didn't mince his words when he joined his teammates in the dressing room and gave them an earful along with an ultimatum. "In the dressing room, he ripped the team to shreds and gave them an ultimatum, making it clear that if they didn't meet certain standards in fielding and fitness, they would not make the World Cup cut, no matter what name they answer to. That showed me the kind of fielding culture he was looking to establish in white-ball cricket," Sridhar added.

Under Dhoni, India focused on remaining calm under pressure, becoming a better fielding unit, andplayed with several bowling options along with a good batting depth. At present, Dhoni is preparing for IPL 2023 in India, which is likely to get underway in April.