The last comparative game that the former Indian all-format captain, MS Dhoni, played was during the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where he almost took his team over the line.
One of the surreal consistency for MS Dhoni behind the wicket was his excellent judgment if an on-field decision needed to go upstairs. Even when he wasn’t the captain, whether for the Indian team or the CSK side, both Virat Kohli and Ruturaj Gaikwad have gone to the Ranchi-born to help.
The users in social media used his accuracy in the Decision Review System (DRS), called it ‘Dhoni Review System’. It’s a skill that the former captain has developed over the years with his experience playing for such a long time.
“MS Dhoni is close to accuracy”- Anil Chaudhary
The experienced Indian umpire, Anil Chaudhary, looked back at the past incident during the 2017 series at home against England, when he was on the receiving end of the reversal where he first raised his finger to Yuvraj Singh, who seemed to get dismissed through caught-behind.
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MS Dhoni was on the other end and quickly asked his partner to go for the DRS review, and he obliged. The result was nothing short of normalcy. It was a bump ball, and the on-field decision was forced to be changed.
The veteran umpire, who has officiated four Test matches, 26 ODIs, and 44 T20I games, believes that nobody would be 100% with their DRS call, but MS Dhoni is close to being accurate.
“That’s not the case always (Dhoni being right), sometimes, it’s the other way around but, he’s close to accuracy. He has a lot of ideas about the game.” Anil shared while being present on the YouTube channel of Shubhankar Mishra.
He addressed that they always find the best seat in the house to judge the speed and direction of the ball as they keep a very close look at the batter, and sometimes it’s the umpires who also keep a look at the movements of the wicket-keepers before giving their decision.
Chaudhary also felt that Rishabh Pant had developed a lot with his DRS decisions. There was a time in the past when he wasn’t confident enough to make the decisions but now had got better with the experience.
“Rishabh Pant has also improved a lot from earlier days. It’s all about experience, you look at the replays and then reassess your calls. Wicketkeeper has got the best spot to keep an eye, they’re still and can follow the ball’s trajectory.” The Indian umpire remarked. “Best umpires sometimes base their decisions on the movement of wicketkeepers because they follow the ball.”
The veteran also felt that because of having such good judgment of the DRS calls, MS Dhoni could become an excellent umpire in the future.
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“He’s (Dhoni) close to accuracy. A lot of the time, he stops others from appealing. He can become a good umpire provided he’s ready to be inside the ground for seven hours,” Anil Chaudhary concluded.
There have been whispers that MS Dhoni could be part of the upcoming IPL 2025 for the Chennai Super Kings as the uncapped player, being retired from international cricket for more than five years. The franchise has informed their wish to reactivate the old back, which now depends on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
