When MS Dhoni drove the team bus from the ground to team hotel in Nagpur

Mahendra Singh Dhoni always had the charm to mesmerize and surprise each and every one of us. Whether his decision to bowl Joginder Sharma in the last over of World T20 final in 2007 or to bowl Ishant Sharma in Champions Trophy 2013 final on his off day – His instinctive decisions took India home a lot of times even in impossible times. But this small town boy even amazed everybody with his wittiness and by how grounded he was outside the cricket field.

The former Indian captain can often be seen as an icon who took off from a small city to become one of the greatest captains of world cricket. Still, he held his ground and never let the success take him over. VVS Laxman shared one of such incidents when the wicketkeeper-batsman surprised everyone when he became the full-time captain of the Test side for the first time.

We were all awestruck: VVS Laxman on MS Dhoni driving the team bus

The team had a lot of superstars, including Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman himself but Dhoni always had his own elegance. It was the 100th Test match for VVS Laxman and the location was Nagpur. While going from the stadium to the team hotel everybody was sitting on the team bus when the newly appointed captain came and asked the bus driver to sit in the back with the team. The Ranchi lad then drove the team to the hotel by himself.

“He was the captain of the Indian team because Anil [Kumble] announced his retirement two matches before in Delhi (in 2008). And MS Dhoni asked the team bus driver to just go and sit behind, and he drove the team bus from the ground to the hotel in Nagpur, and we were all awestruck. The captain of the Indian team, driving the team bus!”

This incident tells us how simple the big man was outside the cricket field. When he was not playing, this is how he was enjoying his time with small moments of joy.

“That’s how he used to enjoy his life. For him, being a cricketer was doing everything on the cricket field, but outside the field, everything was normal,” Laxman said on Star Sports’ show ‘Cricket Connected’.

Dhoni will be next seen in the IPL from September 19th where he will be captaining Chennai Super Kings for yet another season. The IPL is going to be played in the Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi this year.