Former Australia skipper, Michael Clarke showered immense praises for MS Dhoni, saying the India wicketkeeper has matured with age and that he has gone from being a Lamborghini to an Aston Martin. Clarke’s comments came after Dhoni became the oldest Indian cricketer to win a Man of the Series award in an ODI series. Dhoni hit three half-centuries on the trot in the three-match series between India and Australia, thereby helping the visitors to create history on Australian soil.
Dhoni played an unbeaten knock of 87 in a tricky chase of 231 in the series decider at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after a rare failure from captain Virat Kohli. The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman stitched an unbeaten 121-run stand with Kedar Jadhav (61*) after coming in to bat at No. 4.
Earlier in the week, Dhoni had scored 55* to help India chase down a stiff target of 299 runs in the must-win second ODI at Adelaide Oval. The 37-year-old was, in fact, criticized for his 96-ball 51 during India’s 34-run defeat in the series opener in Sydney.
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Talking about the veteran on Sony Six, Clarke said, “He [Dhoni] has gone from a Lamborghini to an Aston Martin. He is still unbelievable. There is an adjustment. He is more experienced now, he knows his game better now. He acknowledges his partner at the other end more now. When MS Dhoni started, he didn’t need a partner irrelevant of whether his partner got a duck, scored a fifty or a century if they needed 50 off 20 balls, the partner’s job was to get MS Dhoni on strike. Now he knows how important it is for his partner to be able to find that boundary and lead up to MS Dhoni pressing gold. He’s had that in the last two games.”
India's series win sealed with a boundary!#AUSvIND | @MastercardAU pic.twitter.com/7Nqy8H47LB
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 18, 2019
Clarke also insisted that MS will play a crucial role in increasing India’s chances of doing well at the World Cup and pointed out the importance of the experienced campaigner in guiding captain Virat Kohli. However, Dhoni always had the backing of captain Kohli and the team management even as the likes of Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik were doing enough to earn themselves World Cup 2019 berths.
Talking about the same, Clarke said, “Robin and I were talking about MS Dhoni’s leadership skills and how it helps Virat Kohli out and how important it’s going to be at the World Cup. It’s no different from Ricky Ponting. When he stood down as the captain, we all wanted Ricky Ponting to stay around the group because his leadership, his talks about training, his experience helped the team so much and my leadership. I think MS Dhoni’s role in this team is just as big when he was captain of India. It’s just a little different now.”
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Apart from Clarke, chairman of the Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra also expressed his glee over India’s memorable wins in the Test and ODI series Down Under. In a tweet, he said that the current Indian team smashed the belief that Australia gets on top whenever India play them in their den.
He expressed gratitude on behalf of a “grateful nation”, he tweeted, “This Indian Team has truly banished the belief that the guys from Down Under always get on Top of us…Thank you #MenInBlue from a grateful nation… And @msdhoni you are the ultimate, unstoppable ‘Sport Utility Vehicle!’”.
This Indian Team has truly banished the belief that the guys from Down Under always get on Top of us…Thank you #MenInBlue from a grateful nation… And @msdhoni you are the ultimate, unstoppable ‘Sport Utility Vehicle!’ https://t.co/024VZF4DIB
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 18, 2019
To Mahindra’s tweet, one fan said Dhoni is also a ‘Multi-Purpose Vehicle’.
He is also a 'Multi Purpose Vehicle'.
— Ashok Jaswal 🇮🇳 (@ashok_jaswal) January 18, 2019
