As much as Indian bowlers had or even continue to have respect for legendary captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, there have been instances where they publicly went against him to execute their own plans. One such incident dates back to ICC Champions Trophy 2013 when pacer Ishant Sharma didn’t obey MS Dhoni during a crunch situation in the final against England in Birmingham.
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India, who won the final by just 5 runs in a tense finish, were primarily able to do so because of Sharma removing two well-set English batters named Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara on back-to-back balls. However, it is worth a mention that Dhoni took a bold call by bringing Sharma back into the attack.
In spite of leaking 27 runs in his first three overs, Dhoni handed the ball to Sharma for the 18th of a 20-over contest. With overs of fellow pacers namely Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar still remaining, Dhoni trusted Sharma to do the job for him. Not that the latter let the former down but he surely didn’t follow his advice.
How Ishant Sharma Didn’t Obey MS Dhoni In Champions Trophy 2013 Final
England needed 28 runs in three overs when Sharma came in to bowl his last over. In a video shared by ICC, Sharma recalled bowling that over. The second ball of the over was a length delivery and Morgan smashed it for a six. Dhoni then asked Sharma to attempt wide yorkers. Having tried doing the same, he ended up bowling two wide deliveries.
As a result, Sharma decided against the original plan and informed Dhoni that he wants to use the slower nature of the pitch at Edgbaston. The right-arm pacer then set the field accordingly to pick the all-important wicket of Morgan on the third delivery. On the following delivery, Sharma bowled a slower one to Bopara as he, too, hit the ball straight to Ashwin. Needless to say that those two balls had turned the tables that night.
“He [MS Dhoni] asked me again to come over the stumps and try [to] bowl wide yorkers. I asked him to let me try to bowl a slower ball then something might happen. That’s how the game suddenly changed.”
Sharma has played a lot under Dhoni and has agreed that the wicket-keeper is one of the best readers of the game. He once revealed how Dhoni helped him in retaining his spot even when he was not at his best. Other than Sharma, once fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah also didn’t follow Dhoni’s suggestion.
Ishant Sharma Performance In ICC Champions Trophy 2013
Sharma was the fourth-highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 10 wickets in five matches at an economy and strike rate of 5.73 and 22.80 respectively. He won the Player of the Match award in the second semi-final against Sri Lanka for his figures of 3/33.
Sharma had the role of picking wickets in the middle overs and bowl at the death. He did the same throughout the tournament and was pretty successful in it. He played all five games of the tournament alongside pacers Kumar and Yadav.
