Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an iconic name in the history of Indian cricket. He is known for having a cool demeanour on the field and also having the ability to hold his nerve to win matches in high pressure situations.
Dhoni is the only captain under whose leadership India have won three major ICC trophies. As a clinical finisher, Dhoni has won many matches for India.
However, Dhoni also had to deal with many controversies both on and off the field. Let’s have a look at some of those controversies:
Walking onto field
Dhoni was embroiled in a major controversy during a match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2019.
CSK needed eight runs off three balls. RR’s Ben Stokes bowled a slow dipping full-toss to which CSK’s Mitchell Santner played early. As the ball looped high in the air off Stokes’s hand, the umpire immediately raised his arm to indicate a no-ball. Upon realising that it was not called by the square-leg umpire, the straight umpire retrieved his arm to reverse the decision.
CSK captain Dhoni lost his cool over the development. He walked onto the field fuming to have a chat with the umpires about the decision. This act from the former India captain was widely criticised by fans and experts.
IPL spot fixing
It was the biggest controversy in Dhoni’s illustrious career. CSK owner N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyyapan was questioned for being allegedly linked with bookies during the ill-famed 2013 spot-fixing saga.
CSK captain Dhoni was also thoroughly questioned. Moreover, he was accused by one of the lawyers for being dishonest. CSK were suspended from the IPL for two seasons between2016 to 2017. It was certainly a blemish in Dhoni’s career.
Dropping seniors in CB series
Dhoni allegedly took a decision during the 2011-12 Commonwealth Bank (CB) ODI series in Australia that left many senior cricketers in the team shocked. Dhoni claimed that they could not have Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in the playing XI as they are slow on the field.
India finished the tri-series with only three victories from eight matches and failed to qualify for the finals.
Conflict of interest
Dhoni was accused of having stakes with Rhiti Sports, who were managing him, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, and Pragyan Ojha before the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. Some experts and former players were upset about the suspected conflict of interest involving Dhoni.
There were worries that some players would have an unfair advantage when it came to squad choices because he was captaining the team in all three formats in addition to be the skipper of Chennai Super Kings in IPL.
Yograj Singh’s mud-slinging
Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh accused Dhoni for not supporting his son in the Indian team.
“I feel really ashamed when other cricketers come and tell me about Dhoni. Earlier, I used to think that people must be cribbing about Dhoni due to jealousy. But when the cricketers told me about him, I think I have never seen a terrible person like him in my life,” said Yograj.
However, Dhoni never responded to Yograj.
This was not the first time that a player’s father accused Dhoni of anything. Sreesanth’s father asserted earlier in 2013 during the spot-fixing controversy that Dhoni and Harbhajan were attempting to destroy his son’s career.
Creating rift with seniors
It is alleged that Dhoni is the reason behind leaving out Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid from the ODI team. Later, various sources stated that there was a disagreement between Dhoni and vice-captain Virender Sehwag before the 2009 T20 World Cup.
Criminal case against Dhoni
Dhoni faced a criminal case filed against him in Bengaluru for allegedly outraging religious sentiments in 2015. The case was based on a magazine cover from 2013, which showed Dhoni holding various objects including a shoe. Dhoni had to approach the Supreme Court to quash the criminal proceedings, stating that the complaint was intended to harass him. Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled in Dhoni’s favour, and the case was dismissed in 2016.
Fined for post-match comments
During the 2015 IPL qualifier against the Mumbai Indians, Dwayne Smith was given out lbw in the very first over of CSK’s chase when the ball clearly appeared going down the leg. During the post-match presentation, Dhoni termed the decision ‘horrible’. Subsequently, Dhoni was fined 10% of his match fee.