India captain and Gujarat Titans (GT) pacer, Ishant Sharma has recently posted some tips that former captain of India, MS Dhoni gave him during the 2013 champions trophy. The 37-year-old attributed the effort to inspire his team members to believe in themselves to the famous batsman-wicketkeeper. He also gave him accolades on his game awareness that he had which saw him forecast the final of the tournament match with England being ended by the rainfall.
Along with discussing their distinct on-field strategies, Ishant also contrasted Dhoni and Virat Kohli’s leadership of India. Although the speedster showed that Dhoni was a versatile captain, the later largely followed the strategy. On Raj Shamani’s YouTube channel, he stated:
“Mahi bhai looked sober, but he would give pieces [of advice] a lot in the field. There was a Champions Trophy match, and rain was taking place. Everyone thought the match would be washed out. He said that the match would happen, it would be short, and he doesn’t think that god will win us the match. God won’t do anything; you have to do things on your own. He would say that you believe in god but trust in yourself.”
Ishant Sharma
He continued:
“Mahi bhai was a captain who loved doing things on the field; he liked doing that. The decision would be based on the game situation. It wasn’t with Virat; there was a basic plan, and then we would look at how it’s going.”
Ishant Sharma
“On the field, we would look at those, but Mahi bhai wasn’t focused much on the meetings. He would play cricket that way, and nobody would understand the meeting. His strategy was simple: you would learn only if you made mistakes. He would say that if you make a mistake and then how long you take to repeat the same mistakes, that’s consistency for you.”
Ishant Sharma
“You Learn a Lot” – Ishant Sharma on Off-Field Lessons from MS Dhoni
Ishant Sharma thanked Dhoni for teaching him valuable life lessons and referred to him as a big brother. In the same video, he stated:
“Everyone has seen Mahi bhai as a big brother. We didn’t just learn to play the game, but we learned that we need to play the game and do well, and at the same time, there shouldn’t be a senior-junior [stuff] in the team. How to live life? How to interact with someone else? You learn a lot of life skills from Mahi bhai.”
Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma spent the majority of his career with Dhoni and Kohli. He is among India’s top wicket-takers in the red-ball format, having claimed 311 wickets in 105 Test matches. In 80 ODIs, he has also claimed 115 wickets. The senior bowler took four wickets in seven games during his final IPL 2025 season with GT.
