MS Dhoni cancelled team trip to Bangalore Air Station as non-Indians weren’t allowed, reveals Gary Kirsten

MS Dhoni’s love for Army is no secret as the honorary Lt Col from the 106 Parachute Regiment of the Territorial Army is a qualified paratrooper after completing five parachute training jumps from Indian Army aircraft in the Agra training camp. While he had spent a considerable amount of time doing shooting, mountain climbing and other activities back in 2006 as a part of the team exercise, there was a moment before the 2011 World Cup when the Indian team had received an invitation from Bangalore’s Yelahanka AirForce Station to visit their base camp.

“Obviously, we had a couple of foreigners in our support staff, and we got word back on the morning before the whole team was meant to go – and everyone was looking forward to the event – that the three South Africans, which were myself, Paddy Upton and Eric Simmons, weren’t going to be allowed into the flight school because it was seen as a potential security risk.”

Kirsten was the coach of the Indian side when they went on to win the World Cup in 2011 while reaching the No.1 Test ranking for the first time in their history two years earlier. The South African was really fond of Dhoni during that entire tenure and now, as he revealed, the appreciation was actually mutual.

“He was very loyal to me, and I think he saw it as well. There were times when we didn’t always win games and we’d have some tough times. We’d spend a lot of time, just one on one together, talking through, taking the team forward. I think we built a strong relationship in the three years we had together.”