Personality Traits of Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Personality traits of Dhoni Gone Arpana Keren 18068 PGDFM 2018-20 Batch Personality traits Personality traits are distinguishing characters that picture an individual. They define how an individual behaves, feels and things in various situations. E.g.: Reserved, expedient, suspicious, imaginative, tense etc. Reserved Many instances in the movie “M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story” reveal that Dhoni is more of a reserved kind of a personality. The following Statements by cricketers prove that Dhoni is an introvert. Prakash poddar, Indian former first-class cricketer, once said that Dhoni was a shy person and talks less. Darren Sammy, comparing both Dhoni and Virat Kohli, said that Dhoni did things quietly without much talking. Intelligent Wicket keeping requires great concentration and fast reflexes and Dhoni is one of the best wicket keepers in the world and the best in India. Dhoni showed intelligence in many occasions, one such occasion is the following.

In 2011 World Cup India lost both openers, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar early and soon Virat Kholi was out too, then surprising everyone Dhoni walked at number 4 ahead of Yuvraj and scoring 91 runs in 79 balls led the team to victory. Later Dhoni reveals in an interview that he played with Murali in the same team in IPL and had learnt Murali’s strategy and since Murali Dharan was bowling at that time in World Cup, he chose to bat ahead of Yuvraj. Conscientious and Serious Dhoni had always put work over everything. The following two incidents show how diligent Dhoni was towards his work. In 2016 T20 International India vs Zimbabwe, Dhoni was batting and got bowled by Donald Tiripano and a bail hit Dhoni in his eye. He scored 9 off 13 balls. Instead of resting for the subsequent match, he kept wickets for 20 overs. India won the match. Dhoni’s daughter Ziva was born during World Cup 2015, Dhoni had the possibility to go to India to celebrate his daughter’s birthday but he chose to stay. When asked Dhoni has told the reporters that he was on national duty and that everything else could wait. Venturesome Dhoni had always surprised people with his audacious decisions. Many of those decisions were successful. One such incident, where he made a bold decision was when he gave a young bowler another chance and boosted his confidence, is below. When India was playing against Australia in 2016 T20 International, Hardik Pandya an Indian international cricketer, was making his debut and was bowling and gave 21 runs in his first international over. Hardik was very upset and decided to not bowl the next overs but Dhoni prompted Hardik to bowl another over. In the next over Hardik took 2 wickets and brought India to victory. Tough-minded During his maiden overseas tour with India, Dhoni’s roommates suggested him to cut his hair and said that he may not play well if he had not. Dhoni replied that he won’t cut his hair, and probably one-day people will copy his hairstyle. And as he said many people have copied his hairstyle. Hence Dhoni does not get influenced by what other people say and is tough-minded. Relaxed Dhoni is not nicknamed captain cool for nothing.

Dhoni had rarely showed any aggressive behavior, he was always calm and pacified his teammates too when needed. In 6th ODI match between India and England at Jamshedpur in April, 2006, Dhoni had to keep wickets and later bat too and temperature in Jamshedpur was very high soaring about 44 degrees. Dhoni opened the innings and scored 96 runs in 106 balls and during drinks break Dhoni decided to have ice bag on his back but was bowled in the first ball after the break. Though India lost in this match, this incident tells us that Dhoni is a relaxed personality.

During One-Day International between India and Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Balagolla, in Kandy, Sri Lankan fans were upset as their team was playing badly and they started throwing bottles in the field and the match was paused for about half an hour. While all this mayhem was happening Dhoni decided to take a nap in the field. https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-in-india/ms-dhoni-sleeps-on-field-as-sri-lankan-fans-throw-bottles-twitterati-love-captain-cool-4817429/ Trusting Dhoni had always believed in his teammates, veterans and youngsters alike. Following is one of those many incidents when Dhoni trusted a young player. Cheteshwar Pujara (a cricketer) had performed very poorly in his first innings of his debut Test at Bangalore in 2010 and was very upset. However, things changed for him when Dhoni decided to send him no. 3 ahead of Rahul Dravid. Surprised by Dhoni’s faith in him, he went on to score 72 bringing India close to victory.

Dominant Though Dhoni was a humble man, he knew how to deal with difficult people and put them in their place. Following is an incident where Dhoni shows his dominant personality trait Suresh Raina had narrated an incident about Dhoni in ‘Breakfast with Champions’ where he said that during India-Pakistan match, Umar Akmal was batting and he complained to Dhoni that Raina was saying some abusing words to him, and when Dhoni asked Raina what it was about Raina replied that he was asking Umar to score some runs and to try to reach the target, in response to that Dhoni asked Raina to continue to put Umar under pressure.