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With MS Dhoni having just announced his retirement from international cricket, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin considered it an opportune time to share his top five memories with his former captain in the latest edition of his YouTube series 'Reminisce with Ash'.
Before sharing his top five memories, Ashwin spoke about MS Dhoni's Test retirement and his early encounters with the wicket-keeper-batsman.
Ashwin recalled MS Dhoni making the surprising decision of calling it quits from Test cricket when the two of them were walking back after saving the 2014 Melbourne Test against Australia.
"We are all aware that MS Dhoni quit his Test career in a similar manner in Australia. In fact MS Dhoni and I were batting together to save the Test in Melbourne. And once the Test match was over, he plucked the stumps and on the way he said that he was done."
He also recollected MS Dhoni getting a little emotional and even continuing to wear his Test jersey throughout the night.
"And then he went to the press conference and called it quits in his own style. It was an emotional moment. In fact, I remember Ishant Sharma, Suresh Raina and myself sitting in his room that evening and he was wearing his Test match jersey for the entire night and he was having a few tears."
R Ashwin talked about his first meeting with his future captain at the Chepauk, where the former had come as a net bowler, and the photograph of the duo that he had posted on Orkut.
"Long time ago, I met MS Dhoni as a net bowler in the India vs West Indies ODI at Chepauk. I have a photo of me and him and I had posted it on Orkut, those were the days."
He also remembered his maiden season with CSK where he observed MS Dhoni's maturity as a leader, and the first time he dismissed the former Indian captain in a Challenger Trophy final.
"In 2008, when I got a contract with CSK I went on to join hands with him, watched him from close quarters and realised what a mature leader MS Dhoni was. I learnt a lot underneath him, in fact I didn't get opportunities at CSK in the first two years."
"We played a Challenger Trophy against each other. I dismissed him in a final and celebrated like a spring chicken. That was my first memory of getting MS Dhoni's wicket."
R Ashwin's five best memories that he has shared with MS Dhoni
R Ashwin's first memory with MS Dhoni was the IPL encounter between CSK and KXIP at Dharamshala in 2010, where the talismanic batsman had smashed Irfan Pathan all over the park to help the franchise qualify for the playoffs.
"I am going to go a long way back to 2010 in Dharamshala. CSK was really in trouble and in the final game we had to beat KXIP to qualify for the semi-finals. I remember very clearly that I was dropped for the entire season, came back and went on to be the best bowler of the season."
"But MS Dhoni killed the entire night by hitting those monstrous sixes off Irfan Pathan and took CSK to the semi-final and in fact we won the IPL that year."
The CSK off-spinner's next memory was the Champions League encounter against Victoria in 2010, where David Hussey smashed him for three sixes in the Super Over. He recalled Dhoni having admonished him for not using his best delivery, the carrom ball, under pressure.
"My second best moment with MS Dhoni would be the Champions League in 2010 itself in South Africa. Again a vital memory for me as I was the best bowler of the tournament."
"MS Dhoni, in that particular tournament, taught me a very important lesson. I bowled the Super Over against Victoria Bushrangers and he came up quietly and said that I did not go to my best ball under pressure, that I had the carrom ball and had to use it a lot more."
"That is something he always maintained with respect to me, he said I was very very innovative and always maintained that I must keep sharpening that aspect of my game."
Ashwin's third-best memory was the 2011 World Cup final in which the captain played an unbeaten 91-run knock to lead India to victory, having done precious little prior to that in the tournament.
"My third memory with MS Dhoni will be the World Cup campaign in 2011. The 2011 campaign was nothing short of drama with the Indian team having gone through everything."
"And finally when the business end came, the final, until when I don't remember MS Dhoni scoring anything big in the World Cup but he walked out like a man who wanted to face the music and played one of the most decisive knocks in a World Cup final."
"Everybody went numb that night, one of the best nights of my cricketing career."
The lanky off-spinner's penultimate memory was the 2013 Champions Trophy, in which MS Dhoni showed immense faith in him and kept encouraging him although he was not getting the required returns in terms of wickets.
"The fourth-best memory is the 2013 Champions Trophy. He was extremely confident in my abilities. I went wicketless in the first game of the Champions Trophy and subsequently Jadeja had a wonderful tournament and MS Dhoni constantly came up to me and said that Jaddu is picking the wickets but that's how the game is and that my moment will surely come in that tournament and he believed that I could deliver."
R Ashwin recollected having been given the ball to bowl the final over, in which he restricted the England batsmen as India won the final by 5 runs.
"And this is something he said not once, but multiple times including on the final night. In the final over of the Champions Trophy he said that my thought process was perfect and he was sure that I would be able to deliver and he gave the ball to me in the final over."
The 33-year-old's final memory was the Chennai Test against Australia in 2013 in which MS Dhoni played a 224-run knock in the first innings. Ashwin had also icked 12 wickets in the match.
"The last or fifth memory is the Chepauk Test in 2013 against Australia. It was the best Test match I have been a part of personally and for MS Dhoni. He went on to score a double-hundred, I picked up 13 (12) wickets."
Ashwin reminisced about MS Dhoni telling him that he would win the Man of the Series after the Indian captain had won the Man of the Match, which eventually turned out to be true.
"At the end of the Test match he came up to me in his own humble way and said that he was the Man of the Match but he was sure that I would be the Man of the Series."
The Delhi Capitals' new recruit observed that the CSK captain retiring just before the IPL might be an ominous sign for the bowlers before the prestigious league.
"You retiring just before the IPL makes you even more ominous for the IPL."
Ravichandran Ashwin signed off by wishing MS Dhoni all the very best for his future endeavours.
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