‘Just do that and bowl’: Piyush Chawla reveals how MS Dhoni plotted Jonathan Trott’s dismissal during 2011 World Cup

MS Dhoni has always been known to be in the spinners’ ears from behind the stumps. If all of those conversations can be retrieved from the stump mics, it will certainly be one of the greatest coaching manuals in cricket’s history.

Former India leg spinner Piyush Chawla has recalled one such incident in which MS Dhoni’s genius gave India a wicket.

India were playing England at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the group stage of the 2011 World Cup. Chasing 339 for victory, England were comfortably placed on 111 for 1 as captain Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott had already stitched a second-wicket partnership of 43 runs.

Speaking of the incident, Chawla said:

“I was having a 45 [short fine-leg] for Trott. He [MS Dhoni] told me to move that [fielder] from there and get it to square-leg. I said, ‘I don’t need that’. He said, ‘No, just do that and bowl.’ And I got a square-leg instead of 45, and two balls later, he got out because he tried to play too fine.”

MS Dhoni's ploy worked as Trott, who had scored 62 runs in the previous against the Netherlands, was trapped plumb in front for a 19-ball 16 as he tried to work the ball towards the position from where the fielder was removed.

After the dismissal, MS Dhoni was even seen enacting Trott’s dismissal and telling his teammates something.

Chawla will be playing under Dhoni in the IPL this year

Piyush Chawla will play under MS Dhoni in the 2020 edition of the IPL

Chawla recalled:

“He told me he wasn’t keeping that square-leg to stop anything. It was just to show him [Trott] that gap so he tries to play it fine, and he ends up getting lbw.”

The dismissal, however, didn’t affect England’s momentum as Strauss (158 runs off 145 balls) took the onus upon him to guide England home. It was only Zaheer Khan’s 3 wickets in 6 balls that put the brake on the visitors, and the match ended in a tie.

The Chawla-Dhoni duo would once again be in operation for the Chennai Super Kings when the IPL starts in the UAE from September.