"I want to open. Can I go?" - When a young MS Dhoni volunteered to open the batting on a tough pitch

In a widely discussed interview back in 2022, former India pacer Vivek Razdan recalled an incident when MS Dhoni was a budding talent and asked his captain to send him to open the innings on a tricky surface. People still can remember those days when a boy from Ranchi with long hair batted aggressively under challenging situations. Razdan had the same experience with Dhoni. 

Recalling the incident, Razdan said that it was a local match in Bareilly during the 2003-04 season; the surface was not easy to bat. Razdan was the captain of the local side and decided to bowl first to understand the wicket. Then Dhoni, yet to make his debut for India, was playing the Duleep Trophy. The opposition team got 150 runs in 40 overs, batting on the surface where the batter had to face uneven bounce. 

"He (MS Dhoni) was playing the Duleep Trophy at that time. But there was a gap between matches, and he came to play our semi-final. I was the captain in that match and decided to bowl after winning the toss because the pitch looked a bit patchy, and we were not sure how it would behave. In the first few overs, we understood the nature of the pitch. Some balls were bouncing awkwardly, and a few were staying low," Razadan said in the interview. 

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The local team had Ajay Jadeja on their side, and he was about to open the second innings. Then, Dhoni stood up and said that he wanted to open. Seeing the confidence, Razdan couldn't refuse Dhoni and allow him to open the innings. 

Dhoni was brave enough to face a tough track

"MS Dhoni was also sitting there. Suddenly, he stood up and said, ‘I want to open. Can I go?’. There was so much confidence in his tone that I straightaway agreed to his request. Some people are scared of challenges, while some others turn them into opportunities," Razdan said. 

He further added that, along with Jadeja, Dhoni went berserk and hammered opponent bowlers to stitch a 120-run partnership.