"Not accurate always": Umpire Anil Chaudhary opens up on the DRS mastery of MS Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is undoubtedly one of the most loved cricket players in India. The World Cup-winning former Indian skipper is still held in high regard for his on-field game awareness and tactics. While Dhoni is hailed for one too many skills, his quick decision-making and accurate on-field calls have amazed the cricketing fraternity far too many times. Now, as Dhoni is enjoying the last leg of his cricketing career with Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, umpire Anil Chaudhary has opened up on Dhoni’s review calls.

"Dhoni being right is not always the case," says umpire Anil Chaudhary about Dhoni's DRS calls

MS Dhoni, in his international playing days, enjoyed the status of being one of the sharpest minds. The former skipper was never witnessed hesitating when appealing against an umpire’s on-field call. With his accuracy in identifying lapses, the DRS is now famously known as the Dhoni Review System as opposed to the originally coined term, the ‘Decision Review System’. The cricket audience has borne witness to multiple occasions of the skipper using the DRS successfully. In fact, Dhoni’s grip on the matter was so strong that his teammates, like the former captain Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya, were often seen celebrating an opposition wicket as soon as Dhoni appealed for it. However, in a recent conversation, the seasoned Indian umpire, Anil Chaudhary, spilled that Dhoni was not ‘always’ accurate in his calls.

“That’s not always the case (Dhoni being right); sometimes it’s the other way around, but he’s close to accuracy. He has a lot of ideas about the game,” umpire Chaudhary said in his latest interview. “He’s (Dhoni) close to accuracy. A lot of the time, he stops others from appealing. He can become a good umpire provided he’s ready to be inside the ground for seven hours,” he added.

The veteran umpire, moreover, credited Rishabh Pant as another prospect who has a keen eye for the game. Chaudhary went on to say that Pant has improved a lot and takes better DRS calls compared to his earlier days. Anil Chaudhary, furthermore, noted that wicket-keepers have an advantage over such decisions given their position being so close to the action on the pitch.

“Rishabh Pant has also improved a lot from earlier days. It’s all about experience – you look at the replays and then reassess your calls," he said. "The wicketkeeper has got the best spot to keep an eye; they’re still and can follow the ball’s trajectory. In fact, the best umpires sometimes base their decisions on the movement of wicketkeepers because they follow the ball,” Chaudhary concluded.

Rishabh Pant marked a comeback in cricket via the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League. The hero of India’s historic Gabba win suffered through a life-threatening road accident back in December 2022. However, the 26-year-old player showed unbelievable grit to make his way back into cricket steadily. India is swiftly bringing Pant back into the scheme of things as the wicketkeeper followed the Indian squad to Sri Lanka for the recently concluded white-ball series.