5 Instances where MS Dhoni showed his smartness on the field

4. India vs Australia in Melbourne, 2014

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia during the 2014-15 season gave the first signs of how far Steve Smith could go in the list of Test greats. He recorded unbeaten knocks of 162 and 52 during a close win in Adelaide and followed it with a 133 in the Brisbane Test victory. In the 2nd innings of the game, he was run out for 28 runs when Australia was six runs away from a win. He bounced back with a 192-run knock in the Boxing Day Test; his 3rd ton of the series.

India minimized Australia’s first-innings lead to 65 runs but the home team’s openers scored fifties in the 2nd essay. India needed to take wickets for having a chance of winning the game. Captain MS Dhoni put Ajinkya Rahane at leg slip position a ball before drinks break in the post-lunch session on day 4. Umesh Yadav, who has the habit of bowling way too many balls on the leg stump, seemed ideal to make Smith flick towards the leg side.

As Dhoni anticipated, he flicked one into the hands of Rahane and was dismissed for 14 runs. It was his lowest score in the 4-match Test series as he smashed 117 and 71 respectively in the last Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Dhoni always loved to set up a leg slip but it was quite common when the spinners were bowling but not much when the pacers were in action. Many teams have followed the leg slip tactic against Smith backed by aggressive bowling lines.