Former Australian cricketer Greg Chappell, who is known for his tumultuous stint as the head coach of the Indian cricket team, has opined on his first impression of watching Dhoni bat.
Chappell, who represented Australia in 87 Tests and 74 ODIs, recalled how Dhoni could hit the ball from unique positions and said that he was the most powerful batsman he has ever seen.
“I vividly remember that I was left awestruck when I saw him batting for the first time. He was definitely the most exciting cricketer in India at that time. He used to hit the ball from the most unusual positions. He is the most powerful batsman I have ever seen,” Chappel said during a chat session on the Facebook handle of the Playwrite Foundation.
Chappell also recalled how he had a chat with Dhoni after a match – where he tonked 183 runs off just 145 balls against Sri Lanka while batting at number three. Post that game, Chappell advised Dhoni to play more shots along the ground. Dhoni followed the coach’s instructions and finished the match with a maximum in the next contest, only after he got a green signal to do so.
“I remember his knock of 183 against Sri Lanka and how he tore them apart. It was power hitting at its very best. The next match was in Pune. I asked MS, ‘why don’t you play along the ground more instead of trying to hit every ball to the boundary’. We were chasing 260 odd and were in a good position and Dhoni was playing a contrasting innings to the one he had played just couple of days before.
“We still needed 20 runs to win and Dhoni asked me, through 12th man RP Singh if he could hit sixes. I told him not until the target was in single digit. When we needed six runs to win, he finished the game with a six,” he said.
Chappell’s stint as the coach of the Indian cricket team came under scanner as several senior players, including Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan weren’t happy with his style of coaching. After being appointed as the head coach of the Indian team in May 2005, Chappell was under fire for his disagreement with the then captain Sourav Ganguly.
