Shreyas Gopal recalls MS Dhoni’s no-ball controversy in IPL 2019

Chennai Super Kings’ leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal recalled the incident when MS Dhoni lost his cool while playing against the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2019. RR all-rounder Ben Stokes bowled a high full toss to Mitchell Santner and the square leg umpire initially raised his arm to signal a no-ball.

But a few seconds later, the on-field umpire revoked his decision, which left MS Dhoni infuriated in the dugout. Dhoni, who is known for his calm and composed behaviour on the field, came out to the playing field to have a heated discussion with two on-field umpires.

Gopal, who was then part of the Rajasthan Royals’ team, knew that trouble was on its way when Dhoni crossed the boundary rope.

“I was at fine-leg actually, so he just walked past like that. I knew trouble is on its way. If someone has to walk in, especially him being probably the coolest and calmest cricketer, if he has to walk in, then there’s something that has really bothered him or not right. If you look at it, probably the only time when Mahi bhai walked in, there was absolute pin-drop silence and no one spoke. The only time I saw him walk into a field and everyone was quiet,” Gopal said. (via CSK’s YouTube channel)

Dhoni was later fined 50% of his match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct.

Meanwhile, Gopal picked his hat-trick against Royal Challengers Bengaluru as the most memorable IPL moment for him. The leg-spinner accounted for Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Marcus Stoinis in 2019.

“The standout (in IPL) is my hat-trick against RCB. That moment, it really told me that you can really do well at this level and the confidence just went two notches higher. AT the end of the day, cricket is so much of a confidence game. Your form is so much of a confidence thing,” he said. 

Gopal recently scalped 17 wickets in 12 matches of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 while leading Mangalore Dragons to glory.