Mahendra Singh Dhoni burst into international cricket in 2004 as a flamboyant, hard-hitting batsman, a far cry from the image of the calm and composed finisher he has built over a decade and a half later. Former India coach Greg Chappell recalled how the wicketkeeper-batsman was “the most powerful batsman” he had seen and spoke about how he had once set a challenge for the former India captain that laid the foundations for his development as a finisher with the bat.Chappell, while speaking on an online chat with the PlayWrite Foundation, recalled Dhoni’s devastating 183 off 145 deliveries against Sri Lanka in 2005 – which remains his highest ever score in One-day Internationals – and then spoke about a conversation he had with him then.”I remember having a conversation with him. We had a home series against Sri Lanka,” Chappell said. “Dhoni got a 180 in one game. He absolutely took them apart. He hit a lot of boundaries and he hit a lot of sixes.
