MS Dhoni's Impact: Top 5 Players Whose Careers Were Cut Short

MS Dhoni is an accomplished cricketer. As a player, he won a lot of tournaments for India. The star cricketer is one of the fewest players to have won all of the ODI World Cup (In 2011), the T20 World Cup (In 2007), and the Champions Trophy (In 2013). In addition to it, he won all of them as a skipper, which is the rarest of rare achievements in cricket. Apart from his achievement in the big tournaments, Dhoni also won other tournaments like the Asia Cup (In both ODIs and T20Is) and the Commonwealth Bank Series in 2008.

While these achievements are good enough to establish his legacy in cricket, there are some black spots in his career. In the period 2011-14, India did not perform well in Tests, particularly in away conditions. The star batter is said to have extended his career in the period 2016 to 2019 when his numbers were not as glorious as those when he was at his peak. Dhoni's wicketkeeping is still questioned by a lot, particularly against the pacers, where he has the most number of dropped catches in the longest format of the game.

However, the biggest criticism around Dhoni has been the allegations that have been made of him for ruining the careers of many young players and even of the established players. It is time to look at the players whose career is said to have been destroyed or even cut short by the former Indian captain.

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5. Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh did not get to play a lot of games for India after their triumph in the ODI WC 2011. The emergence of the spin bowling options like Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, and Ravindra Jadeja meant that Harbhajan was no more the prime spinner in the Indian team. Even Pragyan Ojha suffered the same problem.

In fact, the duo of Ashwin and Jadeja could offer batting as well. As a result, the Indian skipper had no option but to pick the former CSK duo. For his kove, the former Indian skipper was criticised. Rumours had it that Singh was disappointed for not getting picked in the Indian team in the 2010s despite having a good record in the past as a player.

4. Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan burst into the scene as a left-arm swing bowler who could move the ball away from the left-hander. At times, he could bring the ball into the left-handers as well. In his prime, Pathan was operating at a good pace. It was under Greg Chappell that the former Indian player was reportedly forced to try and bat a bit.

While reports claim that Pathan was not too happy with the decision and in fact destroyed his form as a bowler, Pathan did make a brief comeback in the early 2010s. However, Irfan was not persisted by the team for a longer period. Many a time, Pathan has posted cryptic messages and expressed his disappointment with the former legend's decision.

3. Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag was reportedly set to become the full-time skipper of India after senior players like Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Anil Kumble were well past their prime. However, as a shocking move, India made MS Dhoni the captain to lead the young team in the T20 WC 2007. Sehwag was reportedly unhappy with the decision.

Under the tenure of Dhoni, India opted to rotate the top order players like Sehwag, Sachin, and Gautam Gambhir, who were claimed to be not so good as fielders back then. Reports claimed a potential rift between Dhoni and Sehwag back then. After 2012, Sehwag was not the preference of the team, as Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, and Rohit Sharma established themselves in the team as openers.

2. Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir has expressed his disappointment on MS Dhoni in indirect ways many times. Be it for 'Grabbing the limelight' or for his captaincy decisions and other stuff, the former Indian batter has always been vocal about his opinion of Dhoni the cricketer. Gambhir had to constantly suffer the change in batting positions under the captaincy of Dhoni.

It is believed that his change in positions led him to lose form, which led to him getting axed from the team due to poor numbers after 2012. The emergence of young guns like Shikhar Dhawan, Vijay, and Sehwag did not help Gambhir either. While Gambhir did get a chance in 2014 and 2015, he could not make the most of it. Critics feel Dhoni has cut Gambhir's career short.

1. Manoj Tiwari

Manoj Tiwari is the latest cricketer to accuse MS Dhoni of ruining his career. The former Indian cricketer took to social media handles to announce his retirement from different forms of the game. In the last few days, there has been a discussion regarding Twari's statement on Dhoni's decisions. The former India batter took to social media and made a huge claim on Dhoni.

Tiwari questioned MS for not backing him after scoring a hundred in the ODI against Zimbabwe. In the dead rubber game between India and Zimbabwe in the early 2010s, Tiwari scored a hundred after registering series low string scores. Manoj did not get to play for India despite scoring a hundred. He accused Dhoni as the reason behind a career which he believed could have blossomed well.