Former India captain MS Dhoni was known for taking a stump back to the dressing room with himself after successfully winning a cricket match. However, he wasn’t allowed to do so post India defeated England in an ODI series six years ago. Dhoni, who wanted to gift successor Virat Kohli a stump, ended up gifting him a match ball worth INR 12,000.
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Depending on the situation, gifting a stump or a match ball is quite a common trend in cricket. Having said that, Dhoni couldn’t gift a stump because it isn’t allowed anymore due to the high cost of LED stumps. The same wasn’t an issue when wooden stumps were used in international matches.
Due To Expensive LED Stumps, MS Dhoni Gifted INR 12,000 Match Ball To Virat Kohli In 2017
After Dhoni stepped down as India’s limited-overs captain, Kohli took over the reigns. A three-match series was his first assignment as India’s full-time all-format captain. India, who won the first two ODIs in Pune and Cuttack respectively, won the series 2-1.
After losing a dead-rubber third ODI in Kolkata, Kohli revealed how Dhoni gave him a match-ball for having already won the series. Dhoni, who wanted to make the occasion special for Kohli, even signed the ball for him.
“MS [Dhoni] gave me the match ball in the second game. The stumps are too expensive nowadays and they don’t allow us to take them home [smiles]. He gave me the ball and told me that it was my first series win as captain and it is memorable. It was a special moment for me and I got the ball signed from him as well,” Kohli had said in a video uploaded by the BCCI.
It is worth mentioning that a white Kookaburra ball in India costs around INR 12,000 and the same can be bought via multiple online websites in the country. Furthermore, it is quite easily available in the offline market as well.
When and Why Did MS Dhoni Resigned As ODI Captain?
Before the beginning of this series in January 2017, Dhoni had relinquished white-ball captaincy of the national team. At the time, it was said that Dhoni wanted to give two full years to Kohli as captain keeping the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in mind. As has been the case throughout his retirement announcements, even this one came as a major surprise for one and all.
Interestingly, the call was made just a day after the Supreme Court removed Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke as BCCI president and secretary respectively.
Was It The First Time When Virat Kohli Had Captained India in ODIs?
For those who don’t know, Kohli had led India on many occasions before this ODI series. He was made the permanent Test captain way back and had already led in the red-ball format 22 times. That said, Kohli was yet to captain India in a T20I until this point in time.
Talking about ODIs, Kohli first led India in a tri-series against West Indies (host nation) and Sri Lanka in 2013. In the same year, he was again made the captain for a five-match away series against Zimbabwe. The following year, Kohli was India’s skipper in four matches of the Asia Cup and five ODIs against Sri Lana. All in all, Kohli had led India in 17 ODIs before being made the permanent captain.
