Cricket News

‘It was to put him under…’ – Former Indian player reveals Gautam Gambhir’s trap-setting for MS Dhoni

Gautam Gambhir, the former Indian opener and the former skipper of the Kolkata franchise from the Indian T20 League, always had a unique field set-up as and when MS Dhoni came into the bat. Most of the time, it was a Test-like field and the World Cup-winning skipper did fall for the trap more often than not. 

Commenting on the same, Robin Uthappa, who was the wicketkeeper of the Kolkata team then, said that it was to let Dhoni play a big shot and get him out at the earliest. Further, the former Indian batter said that the question must be directed at the southpaw and not at himself. 

“That question is better directed to Gautam Gambhir than me. I was just a wicketkeeper at that point in time. But I think (it was done) just to put that extra pressure on him. Initially when he comes in to bat, just to force him to play a big shot. It was an in-and-out kind of a field where you had a lot of fielders very close to the bat,” Uthappa said on ESPNCricinfo. 

Gambhir wanted to take advantage: Uthappa

Further opining on Dhoni’s tentativeness early in the innings, Uthappa said that Gambhir would bring up Piyush Chawla into the attack to set up the right-handed batter. Notably, as years passed by, Dhoni’s strengths turned into weaknesses as the aggressive finisher started getting out for spinners more than the pacers. 

“Piyush Chawla was bowling. He is one of the best leg-spinners to have played the Indian T20 League and records state as much. He can be a very deceptive bowler. And everyone knows that when MS comes in to bat, he can be a little tentative and Gautam wanted to take advantage of the fact,” said the former Indian wicketkeeper further. The Kolkata franchise won the Indian T20 League title twice in 2012 and 2014 and all of it came under the leadership of Gambhir. However, post that, the team is yet to make an impact in the league.