‘Would never pick up his phone’: Another player reveals MS Dhoni's no-phone rule as 'detached' mindset exposed

In an IPL ecosystem that is ever random and where a player’s trajectory feels like Brownian motion, MS Dhoni’s leadership has stayed stubbornly simple. His fundamentals are to stick to the basics, work on the process, and try to do what you can control to the best of your abilities. This has made him survive and establish himself as one of the best leaders the sport has seen.

His methods can be tracked across careers that were re-centered in the Chennai Super Kings, and the lessons absorbed by youngsters under him, who might have bloomed later elsewhere. The method is visible in his selection choices, field plans, and crucially, the guardrails that make a player’s job clearer, more impactful, and braver.

Sai Kishore, the CSK apprentice

R Sai Kishore is a clean lens. His IPL career started with CSK in IPL 2020, when the franchise bought him for his base price of ₹20 lakh. He did not play a game for them, although he was a part of the squad for two whole seasons. In 2022, the left-arm spinner moved to the Gujarat Titans, when the franchise invested ₹3 crore for his services. But Kishore now reveals the valuable lessons he learned from MS Dhoni himself, while being a part of the CSK setup.

In a recent interview on Provoke TV, Sai Kishore said, “I have learnt a lot about this from MS Dhoni. He would never pick up his phone. He used to leave his phone in his hotel room and come for the games. That’s how detached he would be. This inspired me because I used to ask myself if being involved in social media is needed. So looking at him inspired me.”

This reveals how MS Dhoni operates and keeps himself away from all the noise in a day and age where social media dictates the flow of life.

Sai Kishore’s time in IPL

He did not play a game for CSK, but since his move to the Gujarat Titans, Sai Kishore has established himself as one of the best T20 spinners in the country. He has played 25 matches in the tournament and has picked up 32 wickets in them.

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