MS Dhoni would use hookah to break barriers with youngsters, reveals George Bailey

Dubai: Tuesday was an emotional day for MS Dhoni who returned as ODI skipper for the 200th time during the Asia Cup 2018 Super Four match against Afghanistan after a period of 696 days.

While fans of the Indian cricket team roared in excitement over the veteran skipper’s comeback as captain, Cricket Australia (CA) also posted a congratulatory video about Dhoni which disclosed a lot of interesting topics.

Speaking in the video was former Australia captain George Bailey, who also played under Dhoni during their time at Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Bailey revealed how the Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batsman would set up seesha in his room to bond with youngsters from the team.

"He likes smoking a bit of the sheesha or the hookah. So, he quite often would set that up in his room, and it was very much open door policy. You would go in and quite often find a lot of younger players there. For India or lot of other cricket teams, it can be hierarchical, but he certainly broke that down. You just find yourself in his room late at night chatting inevitably about the game or about different facets of the game or about different people and with different people it’s a great way to break down barriers," reveals Bailey in the video.

Bailey also hailed Dhoni’s sense of calmness and his ability to read the game well, even in pressure situations.

“The greatest thing that I took from him was his ability to remain calm to impact the calmness of the team. With the chaos and whatever might be happening on the game on numerous occasions, when you saw him being so calm behind the wickets or with the bat in hand, you firmly believe that he’s got a plan. He’s got something covered here, it’s gonna be ok,” he added.