'Am I mad?' Kuldeep Yadav recalls moment when MS Dhoni got angry at the left-arm spinner

India’s left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav has recalled a moment when former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni lost cool for not listening to his instructions. Kuldeep, talking to cricket show host Jatin Sapru on ASAP with JSAP on Instagram, revealed that the incident happened during the second T20I between India and Sri Lanka at Indore when Kusal Perera was batting. “Kusal smashed a boundary over the covers. Dhoni Bhai shouted from behind the wickets and asked me to change the fielding. I did not listen to his suggestion and in the next ball, Kusal hit another boundary through the reverse sweep now,” said the Uttar Pradesh cricketer. He explained that it was at this very moment when Dhoni became furious. “Now agitated Dhoni came to me and said, ‘main pagal hoon? 300 one-day khela hu, aur samjha raha hoon yahan pe.’ (Am I stupid? I have played 300 ODIs and you are not listening to me),” the 24-year-old added.

Kuldeep then revealed that he went upto Dhoni and enquired if he gets angry often. “I was so scared of him that day. After the match, I went to him while traveling in the team bus and asked if he ever gets angry. To which Dhoni bhai said: ‘20 saal se gussa nhi kiya hai’ (I have not got angry for the last 20 years),” Kuldeep continued. Despite the on-field argument with Dhoni, Kuldeep later went onto dismiss Kusal for 77. He eventually finished with figures of 3 for 52 from four overs as India thumped the visitors by 88 runs. Nevertheless, Kuldeep has said that he shares a good friendship with the 2011 World Cup winning captain. “Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan would pull my leg during our World Cup 2019 stay in England. From team bus to the hotel, they keep on pulling my leg which we all enjoy,” he added. Dhoni’s international future, meanwhile, has been a talking point for a while now. He has not played for India since their World Cup semi-final exit at the hands of New Zealand in July last year.