Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh are two of the most important cricketers in the history of Indian cricket. Both of them have a long tradition of excellent performances in the Indian team. These legendary batsmen were the main reason why India reached the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 and the 50 Over World Cup in 2011. But former Sri Lankan player Russell Arnold points out an important difference between the two. Russell Arnold said that Dhoni is one of the few batsmen who can play defensively and aggressively at the same time, and Yuvraj is a little behind in this regard.
“Dhoni can play both ways. There are very few cricketers who can do that. Dhoni will do exactly that when he needs to absorb the pressure. That was my strength too. But I wasn’t able to hit boundaries consistently and score 15 runs in each over. If eight or 10 runs in each is enough, I will try my best for that. But even if it was fifteen or twenty runs in the overs, Dhoni used to find the big shots and get them consistently,” says Arnold.
Along with this, Arnold also said that Yuvraj does not have this ability. “Yuvraj cannot play both ways like Dhoni. Not many players can do that. There are people like Yuvraj who score boundaries with fireworks. But Yuvraj could not play well under pressure or play like Dhoni. UV’s power is to attack under normal circumstances. But Dhoni excelled in any situation. He was very easy to defend and attack.”- Arnold adds.
While Yuvraj announced his retirement from international cricket in 2019, Dhoni retired in 2020. Both have made great contributions for India. This was the golden era of Indian cricket.
