Dhoni has his own mindset and sticks to it: Former CSK teammate Subramaniam Badrinath

Reminiscing fondly, Subramaniam Badrinath says that he had gotten a 64 against Kings XI Punjab which cemented his place in IPL cricket. The half-century proved to the world and himself that he could make a dent as a T20 cricketer. His 64 runs and a hat-trick by L Balaji ensured that the Chennai Super Kings won that game. It was a huge switch in his mindset, he told Hindustan Times in an interview.

A prolific batsman in First-Class cricket, Badrinath has scored over 10,000 runs for Tamil Nadu. Over the years, his solid technique and grit improved to the demands of T20 cricket.

Even though he was initially perceived as a misfit for his traditional style of batting, he scored a total of 1,441 runs in his IPL career with the CSK captain MS Dhoni in his corner. “Dhoni always felt that roles are very important, and most of the time, mine was to get the team out of tough situations,” said Badrinath. “My role was there in the middle order. The biggest strength of Dhoni is that he gives players that extra chance. If Dhoni believes Badri is good, that’s it. Once he believes it’s right, he sticks to the process. 'I will give him chances, let him prove himself.'"

“Similarly, if he believes you are not good enough, even god cannot help you. He has his own mindset and sticks to it no matter what.”

One of Badrinath’s many learnings during his tenure at CSK was the importance of staying detached, which was possible due to amazing support from the top. The entire team was very down-to-earth; there was no flamboyance, no crazy parties. Simplicity was a major characteristic of CSK and Badrinath fit in the culture just well.

“Irrespective of how we’d performed, the owners treated us the same. Plus, we always had an amazing camaraderie and team environment… our get-togethers, the bosses would always be like ‘we know you’re a champion side’. We had MS Dhoni as our captain so it flowed from the top to Dhoni and to the team,” Badrinath said.

Another valuable lesson that Badrinath got from Dhoni was that if something is going well then there is no need to tamper with it. "Even we don’t know, but something is working. And it’s better to not touch it. CSK is one of the most grounded franchises because we always went there and did our jobs,” he noted.

CSK got Badrinath at his peak. In 2010, a crucial year for CSK, the team had lost five out of seven matches. To cement their position at the top of the table, they had to win a certain number of matches. With Dhoni out of the team due to a broken forearm, CSK managed to win four out of five matches with Suresh Raina in charge and eventually won the IPL.

Continuing their winning streak, CSK won the Champions Trophy in 2011. They won seven out of eight matches and registered a spot in the knockouts. It was the year when CSK was dubbed as the ‘Manchester United of Cricket’ for winning all their home matches.

“It was very tough but somehow there was some energy within us that kept us going. We came to Dharamsala to play a must-win and that match gave us momentum. We believed that we could win. We played another tough match against Deccan Chargers in the semifinal. With that confidence, we sailed that year, winning the Champions League,” Badrinath said.

Weighing in on Dhoni’s future, Badrinath said that the CSK captain will choose for himself whether he should play the T20 World Cup or the IPL. His fitness will be a vital factor in what lies ahead for the former Indian Captain.

“His body is also something that has gone through quite a bit. There’s a reason why he doesn’t play First-Class cricket or Test cricket because his back has also troubled him. It happens with any keeper, once you’ve played so much cricket under so much stress,” Badrinath said.

He also said not to heed the speculations that are going around as most of it is not true.