Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni are two stalwarts of Indian cricket. They both changed the dynamics of the game with their playing style, and the latter with his leadership skills and calm nature on the field during pressure situations. Both have retired from international cricket, but MS Dhoni continues to play the Indian Premier League (IPL). Dhoni, who has already turned 44, continues to represent his franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
However, there has been a long rumour that there has been a rift between the cricketers. It has been a subject of long-standing speculation, through strategic selection choices and public interviews as well.
MS Dhoni-Virender Sehwag had a catfight
The rift rumours gained attention, dating back from 2009 to 2012. The first controversy arose in the 2009 T20 World Cup when Sehwag carried a shoulder injury.
After this, when Dhoni was questioned on the matter about the injury at a pre-match press conference, he replied with: “Maybe you should ask his physio to issue a press release.” However, Sehwag and Dhoni won the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2011 in India, putting an end to the discontent. Another instance occurred during the 2012 CB series in Australia, when the team agreed on rotating the senior openers Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, and Sehwag to provide younger players to prepare ahead of the next World Cup.
Sehwag slammed MS Dhoni’s idea
But things took a turn when Dhoni’s idea for infusing youth into the team through rotation also included saving runs on the pitch with fresher legs, which seemed to have gone unnoticed by the team’s senior members.
Sehwag, during that press conference, said, “I didn’t know what he said and what’s going on in the media. But we decided, we had a meeting, he chatted with everyone, with Gautam and myself and Tendulkar. He wanted to give chances to youngsters so youngsters can play all the matches here because the next World Cup is also here, so they’ll get an idea of how the pitches behave in Australia.”
Sudeep Tyagi sheds light on the MS Dhoni-Sehwag rift
After more than a decade, this has been a point of discussion in an exclusive interview with CricketAddictor, where former India pacer Sudeep Tyagi discusses the relationship between Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni in the team environment, as everyone has heard a lot of things. But no one knows the on-ground reality. Someone is showing something on a news channel, someone is showing something else. Sudeep Tyagi shared how their relationship was. Putting an end to all this nonsense.
Sudeep Tyagi said, “No, no, there was nothing. As much as I was in international cricket, both were there. Viru Bhai was there, Mahi Bhai was there. There was nothing. Both used to joke around. I can tell you in front of me that both used to talk well in the dressing room. Because if you look at it, Viru Bhai is a little senior to Mahi Bhai. So, he used to help. It’s not like Viru Bhai was the vice-captain and used to help him a lot. All of it was rumours, there was nothing like that.”
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