‘Mahi Bhai Ka Koi Jawaab Nahi’ – Praveen Kumar on MS Dhoni’s Captaincy

There is no doubt MS Dhoni was one of the finest captains Indian cricket ever had, and probably one the best the game has ever seen. Apart from the accolades he helped India win, ‘Mahi bhai’ as he is fondly called by his teammates Dhoni’s instinct as captain and the ability to read the game from behind the stumps was par to none.

During Dhoni’s heydays as captain, one of his most trusted bowlers was UP’s Praveen Kumar who played from 2007 till 2012 for India, majority of it under Dhoni. Known for his prodigious swing he was able to extract with the new ball, Kumar was a genuine wicket-taker with the new ball. Hailing from Meerut, Kumar played 68 ODIs taking 77 wickets, while in his six Test appearances, he scalped 27 wickets at 25.81.

One of Kumar’s career highlights was his performance in the CB Series final in 2008, where he picked up 4/46 helping India beat Australia in the 2^nd final and seal the series in Brisbane. Sachin Tendulkar had scored 121-ball 91 in the match.

Reminiscing about Dhoni’s captaincy, Kumar in an interview on the Lallantop Youtube channel said Dhoni the captain knew how to best use his players.

“Mahi Bhai Ka Koi Jawaab Nahi. He knew how to use a player and when to use them,” said Kumar, adding, “he used to set the field and ask the bowler to bowl. And that’s what good captain is, who gives the ball to the bowler and only asks to bowl, then it is up to the bowler to understand what he has to bowl.”

“Yes, as bowler you can of course tell the captain, for instance, where should the slips be placed, a bit wider or not because only the bowler knows after pitching how much the ball could swing, but apart from that he knew it (how to set fields),”

Kumar, however, was not able to sustain his place in the Indian team for long and his career graph nosedived, playing his last First-Class game in 2017. After not getting picked at the 2018 IPL Player auction Kumar was involved in a few off-field incidents that attracted bad press and soon went into obscurity.