Ex-CSK Star Recalls When Team Tried To Avoid Eye Contact With 'Fuming' Dhoni: 'MS Kicked...'

The loss left Dhoni fuming so much that the other players of the team could not dare to make even eye contact with the then CSK captain. He even kicked a bottle in frustration.

The incident was revealed by former CSK and India batter Subramaniam Badrinath in an interview with Inside Sports. Badrinath recalled that CSK fumbled in a small chase of around 110 against RCB at Chepauk and that performance infuriated Dhoni.

“I remember that one match against RCB (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) we played in Chennai. RCB got out to a very meagre score, 110 or something. I think we were trying to chase it but we lost wickets in there, in a hurry and we ended up losing the match where we couldn’t get 110 against RCB in Chepauk,” Badrinath recalled.

Badrinath, a right-handed middle order batter, played 93 IPL matches from the inaugural season till 2013, all for CSK. He also played two Test matches, seven ODIs and one T20I for the Indian team.

“So I remember I got out to a bad shot, I played this lap shot against Anil Kumble and got myself LBW (leg-before-wicket). So he was coming inside the dressing room and I was standing right there,” Badrinath said.

“There was a small water bottle in front of me and MS just kicked the bottle right out of the park and we were all trying to avoid eye contact with MS in that dressing room, all of us, we were trying to stay away, steer clear of MS Dhoni,” he added.

“He didn’t say anything, there was no team meeting, there was nothing. That’s why I think non-verbal communication is the most powerful form of communication,” he concluded.