Yes, Cricket is a gentleman game and MS Dhoni is the finest example of a gentleman. But some time is not the same from both the side, some times the opponent is not honest to the game sometimes the so-called game referees crossed the limit so far that the gentleman MS Dhoni has to teach a lesson of his same dose. Here are some of the memorable controversies moments of MS Dhoni's career.
Most Controversial Moments of MS Dhoni That Will Remembered Forever
#5. A Word With Billy Bowden
In the Aussie tour of 2012, one occurrence, where Mr. Captain Cool losing his cool surfaced. It was during tri-series in Australia, also involving Australia. In was 7th One Day International at The Gabba (Brisbane), MSD entered into a verbal squabble with the well known on-field umpire "Billy Bowden".
The Australian batsman "Michael Hussey" was out in through his stumping and Dhoni took the bails off in a flash after bowler Suresh Raina beat him with an absolute ripper of a ball. Michael Hussey had grounded his feet, but third umpire Bruce Oxenford pushed the ‘Out’ button in hurry.
On realizing the mistake, on-field umpire Billy Bowden called Michael Hussey back. The turn of events didn’t like by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who vent out his anger on the umpires, by any means. Hussey went on to score a half-century with six boundaries, taking the Aussies to 288 for five. In the end result, the home team came out as winning streak by 110 runs.
#4. No, It's a No Ball
In the 12th season of Indian Premier League, Dhoni, known to be Mr cool, lost his mind for a moment while. It happened during Chennai Super Kings (CSK) league game against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur (Rajasthan). The occurring took place during the slog end of the match when the clock needle was moving way too frequently.
Dhoni wasn’t happy with umpire leg umpire Ulhas Gandhe, who backtracked on a no-ball decision which was caused due to beamer. On seeing the umpire’s change of decision, Dhoni charged out and confronted Gandhe. Mr. Cool aka MS Dhoni was on the pavilion and the umpiring skills are too loose, that he came to the ground he has a word pointing fingers to leg umpire
Bruce Oxenford, another on-field umpire, had to convince the CSK Thala "MS Dhoni" to head back to the dugout quite disappointed. However, Dhoni has to pay 50 percent of his match fees after he admitted to the Level 2 offense of the Indian Premier League’s code of conduct.
#3. Gloves Insignia
MS Dhoni had his fair share of controversies even in the ODI World Cup 2019 in England and Wales. In the Men in Blue’s very first game of India against South Africa at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, MSD was seen, wearing keeping gloves with Army Insignia. Every Indian was celebrating for the first game and no one thought it would be a bad start for Team India.
The International Cricket Council aka ICC then intervened and asked former skipper of India Dhoni to get rid of the badge from his wicket keeping gloves. A so-called Pakistan minister also took a dig at Dhoni for donning the Army badge. The ICC made it clear that Dhoni can’t wear the badge from the 2nd match which was against Australia at the Oval.
However, Dhoni got support from some former Indian cricketing legends and the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India. The world’s richest cricket board asked the pinnacle board of cricket to reconsider its idea and threw its weight behind Dhoni.
It happened a huge fight between media, Army and neighboring countries. After this incident, some die-hard fans of MS Dhoni and Team India bring a huge flag of that insignia in the second match against Australia. That match was remembered for their win and a hammering six to Mitchel Marsh.
#2. MSD Vs Senior Players
In the same ODI tri-series in Australia where he had a word with Billy Bowden, Dhoni took some calls as a skipper, which came underscan. He said that the likes of three senior players Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Gautam Gambhir had to be rotated to ensure that the fielding standards have to be maintained. This is also shown in the movie made on him.
Then chairman of selectors team Dilip Vengsarkar was also of the opinion that one should field the best eleven. Maninder Singh, another former cricketer, called the idea as “utter nonsense”. Mahendra Dhoni wanted to give the young players enough chance of playing on fields with big grounds like Melbourne.
After Gambhir hung his retirement from all formats of cricket in December 2018, Gautam lashed out at MS Dhoni for the rotation policy. The veteran leftie batsman called the move as ‘crap’ and asked Dhoni to stick to a better decision.
#1. Mustafizur Rahman Best Lesson
By the trolls in between Bangladesh, it seems like they always had a bad dream of MSD every night. Mahendra was once involved in a tiny-altercation with Bangladesh pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman. It panned out during India’s opening ODI against the Bangladesi's in 2015 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium (Dhaka).
In the middle of India’s innings, Dhoni observed that the pacer is coming between when day are taking singles. In the next ball, Dhoni went for a single after playing the ball to the outfield. Mustafizur seemed to have glanced at MSD before sliding to the path where the latter was running. Dhoni, meanwhile, barged into the Bangladesh fast bowler and seems to bang the pacer away with his forearm intentionally making sure that the bowler learned a lesson.
Dhoni later said that he tried his best to avoid the smash, but he couldn’t. MSD was later deal with a fine of 75 percent of his match fees, which was not a big deal for a millionaire. Mustafizur became the Man of the Match, but he lost 50 percent of his match fees. Both Rahman and Dhoni pleaded not guilty to the charge. I'm sure its the best goosebumps controversial moment of MSD career.
Bonus Controversies of Mahendra Singh Dhoni:
- Once after the break up with Deepika, he had many arguments with Yuvi. Then after a match, he yields at him in between a match because of a catch miss and MSD said him to field in the outfield which became a controversy because a caliber like Yuvraj should n't be fielding at outfield.
- In England T20 World Cup, MSD and Sehwag are rumored to be fighting. And he has to bring the whole team between media to clarify everything that the team is in a good relation.
So these are the 7 Major Controversies of MS Dhoni's career that we will not forget. Please tell us if there are any more.