Bengal wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami reveals the advice MS Dhoni gave him

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni featuring in the Vijay Hazare Trophy has been of immense help to the Jharkhand youngsters. However, on Friday it was Bengal’s wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami who got some invaluable suggestions from the most successful Indian keeper. That, ahead of Jharkhand’s Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-final clash with Bengal in New Delhi tomorrow.

The match was scheduled to be played today, but after a fire broke out in the Jharkhand team hotel, it was postponed and Goswami was able to make the most of this opportunity to get some words of wisdom from the veteran who has done it all as a wicketkeeper-batsman in international cricket.

“I have never had an opportunity to enjoy a one-on-one session with Dhoni bhai. Today since the match was postponed, I went up to him and sought his time. He obliged almost immediately. I spent good 15-20 minutes talking about my game. I was a fan but today I was more of a student,” Shreevats told PTI on the sidelines of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Goswami, who has previously captained the India U19 side spoke about the mental challenge before big games, and the bad patch concept. ” Dhoni bhai said that no one exactly knows what is poor form and there is nothing called getting out of a bad patch. Often, it just takes two to three good shots while batting that will indicate that things are on right track for a player,” the Bengal keeper, who has been in good form during the season, said.

Since he is keeper himself, this was a big opportunity for him to get a chance to speak to India’s finest wicketkeeper of all time.

He further revealed that Dhoni told him that if he is playing at this level, he need not worry about the basics. Mental frame of a player is more important. He continued to say that Dhoni calmed him by saying that it is never possible that a player can shut out all sorts of worries ahead of a big match but the key is to ensure that external factors are kept at a bare minimal.