India vs South Africa: MS Dhoni loses cool on Manish Pandey, proves he is human after all

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is known and loved for his wise one-liners from behind the stumps. Often they are in the form of advice to his teammates, or jokes on the batsmen. But whatever is said is generally in good humour, and this chatter endears Dhoni to his millions of fans worldwide. His wisecracks are often analysed by the experts to get a low down on team strategy. [caption id=“attachment_4363049” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] MS Dhoni bats in the second T20I against South Africa.[/caption] However, Dhoni is also human after all and anger is a natural part of being human. There have been occasions when ‘Captain Cool’ — as he was called when he led India — has lost his cool too. His tiffs with the media readily come to mind. There was an occasion when he responded in a very irascible manner was asked an ‘uncomfortable’ question after India scraped past Bangladesh by one run in the 2016 World T20. In the same tournament, after India crashed out in the semi-finals, Dhoni went after Australian journalist Sam Ferris, humiliating him openly for asking if he was keen to continue playing after that tournament, having achieved almost everything that there was to achieve. Talks on his retirement have invariably elicited hostile responses. The second T20I of the series against South Africa saw Dhoni in an angry young (well, not so young!) man avatar again, and this time his ire was directed at one of his teammates. It was the last over of the Indian innings in Centurion, and Manish Pandey and Dhoni were in the midst of a stellar partnership. But Dhoni was caught on camera snapping at his younger partner. The gist of his expletive-laden outburst was that Pandey should look at his partner when running between the wickets and not let his focus to waver. Here’s a look at the video of Dhoni’s outburst:

His anger and then the six...💗 @BCCI @msdhoni @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/at4CIsQdel

— Shivansh Yadav (@ishivd5) February 21, 2018

Dhoni’s outburst brought back memories of VVS Laxman berating Pragyan Ojha during the Mohali Test against Australia 2010. India were 210/9, needing just six runs to win. Laxman, batting with a runner, drove a delivery straight down the ground. Ojha set off for a run and almost got himself run out causing Laxman to lose his temper so much so that he shouted at Ojha and raised his bat in a gesture to be hitting Ojha. All in the heat of the moment, of course. It was an outflow of passion, as was the case with Dhoni on Wednesday. It also goes to show how keenly these top players are involved in every contest. Pandey (79*) and Dhoni (52*) stitched together an unbeaten 98-run stand which helped India to a healthy total of 188. But it was to prove inadequate as Heirich Klaasen and JP Duminy combined to carry South Africa over the line, and keep the T20I series alive.