Ruturaj-MSD

Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL

MS Dhoni is a huge name in Indian cricket. While he has achieved everything there is to achieve in a cricketing career, he is playing a mentor role to perfection at this stage of his career. Dhoni, who stays away from social media himself, is advising the same to the youngsters in the squad and encouraging them to keep their focus on the process rather than the results.

And the results are there for everyone to see. The right-handed opening batter, Ruturaj Gaikwad has scored over 500 runs in 13 matches and is in the race to end the season as the leading run-getter of the competition. He has averaged 47.36 at a strike rate of 138.93 and has been one of the key reasons behind the Men in Yellow's remarkable success this year.

Talking about Dhoni's impact on Ruturaj, coach Sandeep Chavan said that MSD's advice seems to be working well for him in the T20 tournament.

Dhoni tells Ruturaj that success and failure are part of process: Chavan

"Dhoni always tells Ruturaj to stay away from social media. Apart from batting tips, how to handle pressure, and accelerating the run rate, Dhoni's advice of staying away from social media to Ruturaj has worked well for him. Dhoni also tells Ruturaj that success and failure are both part of the process, so, always back your game, no matter what people say," Ruturaj's coach Sandeep Chavan told Times of India in an exclusive interview.

Chavan added that apart from MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina are also helping the youngster and injecting in him the confidence to score runs freely. Chavan said that Ruturaj knows how to grab his opportunities and highlighted how he gave it back to Akash Singh by not indulging in verbal exchange but scoring runs off his bowling.

Ruturaj knows how to grab opportunities: Chavan

"Ruturaj knows how to grab opportunities. He never allows bowlers to dominate him. He doesn't sledge and doesn't like to be sledged. He doesn't carry any baggage and settles things right there in the middle. In the match against RR, Akash Singh paid the price for saying a few words to him in the middle. That's how Ruturaj gives it back," Chavan addressed in the same interview.

Notably, Ruturaj's unbeaten 101 went in vain in this match as Rajasthan chased down the target of 190 with 7 wickets in hand and 15 balls remaining.