MS Dhoni lets bowlers handle themselves; Rohit Sharma thinks wickets, reveals Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh has played under Rohit and Dhoni in the IPL
|Harbhajan Singh has played under both captains MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma in the Indian Premier League and has revealed that while the former lets bowlers do their thing, the latter thinks wickets. The veteran spinner joined CSK in 2018 after being with Mumbai Indians since the first IPL season.
Seasoned India spinner Harbhajan Singh made his Indian Premier League debut in 2008 playing for the Mumbai Indians. It was in 2018 that he joined the Chennai Super Kings franchise, a transition that he says for hard for him. Naturally, Harbhajan has played under MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma - the two most successful captains in IPL history.
The veteran off-spinner revealed that while Dhoni is a captain who does not dictate terms and lets bowlers do their own thing, Rohit Sharma thinks wickets all the time. Harbhajan recalled an IPL game in Pune wherein CSK pacer Shardul Thakur was getting smashed all over the park but Dhoni let him play his own game. The 38-year-old also added that Dhoni never dictates him about what to do.
"He is not a captain who says, do this, do that. He wants you to do what you know you can do. Bowl what you know you can. If you can bowl six offspinners, do that. Yes, he has nudged me at times -- from behind the stumps or at change of overs -- saying, this guy is trying to do this or will try this. But he never tells me what to do," the veteran spinner told Cricket Monthly.
"I went to Dhoni and told him, "Why don't you tell him to change the angle or push a fielder back?" As if he had all the time in the world, Dhoni said to me, "Bhajju pa, if I tell him anything now, he will get confused. Khaane do (Let him get hit).”
While Harbhajan joined the Mumbai Indians team in the inaugural season of the IPL, Rohit was made captain of the franchise in 2013. About the Indian vice captain Harbhajan said that Rohit, too, gives enough freedom to the bowlers but he only thinks wickets all the time.
"Rohit also gives a lot of freedom to the bowlers but thinks wickets at all times. He will not interfere with your bowling. If you want an attacking field, he will give it. It is not compulsory that if a left-hander comes, you get a slip whether the balls spins or not. Then at times we have had a short leg and two slips," Harbhajan explained.
