5 occasions when MS Dhoni surprised us with his captaincy in limited overs cricket

#4 ICC World T20 2016: India vs Bangladesh

Dhoni consults with Pandya before the final delivery

India avoided a narrow scare against neighbours Bangladesh in the second match of the group stage at the World T20 Championships in 2016. Bangladesh had managed to restrict their ‘Big Brother’ to 146 in the stipulated 20 overs and were headed to another famous victory against India.

With all the specialist bowlers having completed their quota of four overs, Hardik Pandya had to step up in the last over. The move to use up the experienced bowlers before the final over was difficult even for die-hard Dhoni fans to justify. However, it was proved yet again that “Captain Cool’s” decisions are always measured.

Pandey picked up the wickets of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah off the fourth and fifth balls of the over. Bangladesh were still in the running as they needed just two runs off the final delivery to win the match and one to force it to a super-over. It was only a master-stroke from Dhoni after a brainstorming session that helped India snatch victory at the last moment.

Dhoni asked Pandya to bowl a back-of-a-length delivery having anticipated the time Mustafizur Rahman would take to complete a single. He then proceeded to take off his glove as Pandya ran into bowl. Mustafizur failed to connect and as expected went for the do-or-die run. But Dhoni had it all calculated as he collected the ball and sprinted like a gazelle, ball in his palm and thrust his fist into the stumps.