5 occasions when MS Dhoni surprised us with his captaincy in limited overs cricket

#5 ICC World Cup 2011: India vs Australia

Indian players celebrate Watson’s wicket

Australia had monopolised the World Cup for 12 years and India were set with the daunting task of defeating them for a place in the semi-final. Dhoni had lost the crucial toss and Australia were set to bat first on the flat pitch at Motera. With the likes of the inform Shane Watson, captain Ricky Ponting, Micheal Clarke and ever-dependent Mike Hussey, the Aussies boasted a strong batting line-up.

In an audacious move, Dhoni started off the bowling with off-spinner Ashwin. While the move seemed to be stupid to the layman, it was perfect to curtail the run flow at the start of the innings. The ploy was to get Watson out cheap and give the Aussies an early blow.

Throughout the opening few overs being bowled by Ashwin, Dhoni employed Suresh Raina, India’s best fielder, at leg-slip. Now, it has always been easy for a right-handed batsman to guide an offspinner's delivery down the fine-leg area, and rotate the strike with ease. With Raina at leg slip, this was negated completely.

It put the batsmen under pressure with Ashwin bowling a lot of dot balls. Watson eventually fell to the off-spinner, bowled for 25 of 38 balls, not his usual boisterous self and all because of captain Dhoni. India went on to win the match courtesy of half-centuries from Sachin, Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh.