How MS Dhoni’s ‘no-phone rule’ policy inspired Sai Kishore

MS Dhoni in action during IPL 2025 (PTI Photo)

MS Dhoni's leadership has remained obstinately straightforward in an IPL environment that is constantly unpredictable and where a player's trajectory feels like Brownian motion. His core principles are to focus on the essentials, improve the process, and do your best at what you can control. Because of this, he has managed to endure and become one of the greatest leaders the sport has ever seen.

His strategies can be traced back to careers that were refocused on the Chennai Super Kings and the lessons learned by his young charges, who may have gone on to succeed in other places. The approach is evident in his field designs, selection decisions, and — most importantly — the guidelines that clarify, impact, and bravery a player's work.

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R Sai Kishore began his IPL career with CSK in 2020 after being acquired by the team for ₹20 lakh. Despite being a member of the team for two full seasons, he never played a game for them. The left-arm spinner joined the Gujarat Titans in 2022 after the team paid ₹3 crore to get him. However, Kishore now shares the insightful things he learnt from MS Dhoni himself while working with the CSK setup.

Sai Kishore recently stated in an interview on Provoke TV: “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.”

In a time when social media controls how people live their lives, this shows how MS Dhoni functions and avoids the commotion.

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Although he didn't play for CSK, Sai Kishore has become one of the nation's top T20 spinners since joining the Gujarat Titans. In the tournament, he has participated in 25 games and taken 32 wickets.

Sai Kishore's versatility has been his strongest point as a spinner. He has shown himself to be helpful in both the middle overs and the powerplay. He has spent the majority of his IPL career at the time when the "impact player rule" has been in existence, allowing batters to be more aggressive. Even then, Kishore has consistently taken wickets and kept up an economy of about 8.85 while delivering the crucial overs for his team.