VIDEO | Vintage MS Dhoni takes a couple of seconds before taking the bails off

Mahendra Singh Dhoni does not have the most conventional wicket-keeping technique but over the years, he has found ways to be effective. In fact, he is one of the fastest wicket-keepers going around in world cricket. The way heeffects the stumpings, giving the batsmen absolutely no time to come back is phenomenal. Moreover, Dhoni’s lightning quick work behind the stumps once prompted famous cricket commentator Michael Slater to say “MS Dhoni has the fastest hands in the West”.

However, Dhoni can also be canny in the way he goes about things on the cricket field. When he knows the batsman has no chance of making it to the crease, he can take an eternity to dislodge the bails and complete the runout. He did that in his debut series as well where he took an age to take the bails off to run Mohammed Ashraful out. He waited, waited and waited and it was only when Ashraful started trying to get back, Dhoni took off the stumps altogether. 

He did something similar in today’s game against Delhi Daredevils as well. After a posting a mammoth 211 (with Shane Watson scoring 78 and MS Dhoni scoring 51), Delhi got off to a good start but they lost a couple of key wickets in the powerplay. However, skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant were trying to get the chase back on track and there was a partnership building.

However, disaster struck for DD as Iyer was involved in a mix-up with Pant and was run out. Iyer pushed a length delivery off Ravindra Jadeja to extra cover and it cut off by Watson at cover who immediately hurled the throw towards Dhoni at the striker’s end. Dhoni then took an eternity to dislodge the bails as Iyer never made an attempt to get back to the crease. It was once again vintage Dhoni, not with the bat or gloves but with his canny nature.