Former India batter Aakash Chopra recently revealed an unheard tale about the legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni. The 42-year-old is undoubtedly one of the greatest captains India ever had. Under his leadership, India bagged the T20 World Cup 2007 trophy, the ODI World Cup 2011 title, and also the Champions Trophy in 2013. Fighting against all odds, Dhoni, who called time on his international career in 2020, is still going strong for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. However, his participation in the 2025 edition is still uncertain.
Dhoni made his international debut in 2004. Chopra, who is now a renowned cricket commentator went appeared on a podcast, where he narrated the story of sharing a room with Dhoni.
“MS and I go back in a very strange way. In 2004, there was an India A tour in Zimbabwe and Kenya. I had already played for India by then. There was a camp in Bangalore. When I reached the hotel, I was told that Mahendra Singh Dhoni was my roommate. I asked, ‘Where does he come from?’ I was told that he was from Ranchi. I only heard of him once. I actually saw him playing at some domestic game, in the Deodhar Trophy, where he scored lots of runs. But that was it, I never talked to him then. And then we were in Bengaluru, where we were roommates for a month, and that was a different Dhoni,” Chopra told Raj Shamani on his YouTube channel.
“His phone used to ring a lot, but he never answered it. When I asked him what time he goes to sleep, because we had to figure the time, he said, ‘Whenever you are comfortable, you can switch off the lights.’ Moreover, he was non-vegetarian and I was vegetarian, so it was not a great partnership. So when I asked him what he wanted to eat, he said, ‘Whatever you feel like eating.’ He never used to call for room service. He was just too shy. For one whole month he ate vegetarian food,” he added.
Chopra went on praise Dhoni for his dedication towards cricket. He revealed how Dhoni used to bowl to former wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik in the nets during the practice sessions. But, when it came to batting in the match, Dhoni produced shots that Chopra had never seen before.
“So that was a very different Dhoni – carefree but not careless. Carefree because he was very confident and happy with where he was, and not careless because when he got an opportunity, in Kenya and not in Zimbabwe, he batted like a man possessed. Before him, I never saw a batter hit a reverse sweep against a bowler. There was a Pakistan bowler named Iftikhar Anjum, who used to bowl at 140+kmph and already played for his country…Dhoni hit him for a four at fine leg. The bowler changed his field, sent back the fine leg fielder and called in the one at third man, but Dhoni smashed the next ball for a six over the third man region,” said Chopra.
“I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ He never used to bat in the nets. He, in fact, used to bowl to Dinesh Karthik, his competitor. He wasn’t getting the opportunity to play, but he wanted to keep himself involved. I told him, ‘Why are you bowling to Karthik? Why aren’t you batting? If he keeps batting and does all the scoring, when will you bat?’ But he replied saying, ‘No, I just want to bowl because I’m enjoying it.’ He is just talented. In fact, he does not practice keeping that much, but his hands are faster than anyone in the world even now,” he added.
