Dhoni’s funny suggestion: Paddy Upton has revealed how MS Dhoni’s suggestion stopped all Indian players from reporting late for practice.
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There is no shying away from the fact that former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an astute reader of the game. In his recently-released book titled ‘The Barefoot Coach’, former India mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton has highlighted Dhoni’s off the field shrewdness.
Sharing a more than a decade-old incident, Upton explained how once Dhoni’s smart suggestion stopped the Indian players from reporting late for practice. Upton wrote how the team adopted various measures to make sure that each player reaches practice and team meeting on time.
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“When I joined the team Anil Kumble was the captain of the Test team and MS Dhoni was the captain of the ODI team. We had a very self-governing process. So we said to the team ‘is it important to be on time for the practice and team meetings?’ Everyone said yes it is.
“So we asked them if anyone is not on time is there anything one should give up? We discussed it amongst ourselves and the players, and eventually, it was left to the captain to decide,” Upton wrote.
Dhoni’s funny suggestion
Furthermore, Upton disclosed how Test captain Anil Kumble and ODI captain MS Dhoni decided to fine the players. Despite revolving around the same lines, both the cricketers were contrasting in their approach. It was Dhoni’s measure which saw a drastic improvement in the ODI side.
“In the test team, Anil Kumble said that the consequence would be a ten thousand rupees [INR 10,000] fine which the person who was late would have to pay.
“And then we had the same conversation with the one day team and there also MS [Dhoni] said that ‘yes there should be a consequence. So if somebody is late, everybody will pay a ten thousand rupees fine!’ Nobody was ever late from the one day team again,” Upon further wrote.
