MS Dhoni is yogi of cricket, he detaches himself from result of match: Javagal Srinath

Legendary India pacer Javagal Srinath has hailed MS Dhoni, calling him ‘a yogi in cricket’. Srinath, who turned 51-year-old on Monday, said that only a yogi can be such a ‘wonderful cricketer’ like MS Dhoni.

Praises for MS Dhoni has rained ever since the former Indian captain announced his retirement from international cricket. Javagal Srinath pointed out that just like a yogi, MS Dhoni detaches himself from the results of the games.

Javagal Srinath, who is an ICC match referee now, added that he have had many ‘good chats’ with the Ranchi-born and have mostly discussed on cricketing matters. Recalling his first memory of MS Dhoni, Javagal Srinath said that he saw the 2-time World Cup-winning captain for the first time and Kenya. Javagal Srinath revealed that at the end of the triangular series, he had ‘ran up to’ Dhoni and confessed his admiration for him. It was then that Mysore Express Javagal Srinath told MS Dhoni that he should very soon playing for the senior India team.

“MS Dhoni is a yogi in cricket. The way he has understood the game, his detachment to results. The way he speaks and conducts himself and on every victory, he holds the cup, the most prized cups, he hands it to someone else and walks away.

“When he looks into all these things, when things are not going well on the pitch and the team is struggling, his composure and body language as if nothing has happened, he can only be a yogi to be such a wonderful cricketer. The more you disconnect your senses from the game at the right time, the better it is for you. He’s a master at that, lot of respect for the man.”

“It has always been a good chat with him every now and then. No incidents as such (as a match referee), but it has always been queries about why it should be this way and that way,” he said. “My first meeting with Dhoni was in 2003 post my career in Kenya. There was a triangular series between Kenya, India and Pakistan; in all the three league games all the way to the finals Dhoni won it single handedly. At the end of it, the way he disdainfully played the spinners and fast bowlers as if he was playing school cricket.

“I was so thrilled that I ran up to the dressing room and called him out and said, look I’m a big fan of yours, very shortly you should play for India, all the best. He lived up to it and see where he is now, as I said he is an absolute yogi for this game,” Srinath told India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in his chat show ‘DRS With Ash’.

Further, Javagal Srinath expressed concerned over cricket turning out to be a game only for batsmen. He said during his playing days the seam of the ball used to be well defined and that would help them in getting more movement but in modern day cricket the seam is ‘absolutely flat’.

India’s only bowler to take over 300 wickets in ODIs, hailed Jasprit Bumrah-led Indian pace attack. He opined that bowling under high pressure in IPL matches have helped them grow as bowler.

“That’s one of my grouse, because the game is tilting towards the batsmen. If that’s the commercial way of building the game, then well and good, we can’t complain about it,” he said.

“But the ball, what we used to feel those days, the seam was quite pronounced. Now it’s absolutely flat. Therefore nothing much happens initially. Earlier, more the seam, more the movement. It’s a bit of a concern for the bowler.”

“Now we have the best fast bowling quartret that India has ever produced. Led by Bumrah, they’re amazing. Things have changed due to IPL perhaps, you bowl under pressure. 10-12 years of good IPL will make anybody a good bowler,” Srinath added.