MS Dhoni: The Untold Story released this Friday and has been quite successful in drawing the audiences to the theatres. The movie tells us about some of the untold stories from Dhoni’s life and one of them is about Dhoni’s iconic helicopter shot.
The shot has become synonymous with Dhoni but very few of us knew that Dhoni’s signature shot was not his own invention. The shot was called Thappad Shot back then and MSD learnt it from his friend, Santosh Lal.
Santosh Lal was Dhoni’s childhood friend and they spent a lot of time together traveling to different states for cricket tournaments. While speaking to The Indian Express, another friend of Santosh Lal, Nishant Dayal said:
He and Dhoni were the best of friends since childhood. They would play tennis ball games endlessly. They both worked for Railways. Santosh was fearless as a batsman. Over the years, Dhoni may have patented the “helicopter shot” but growing up, there was someone who was better at it. Dhoni always admired his batting style. And Santosh taught him to play the helicopter shot,” adds Dayal.
Even after Dhoni became a star, he remained friends with Santosh who went on to play Ranji cricket. But unfortunately, he succumbed to pancreatitis at the age of 32. Dhoni had arranged an air ambulance for his ailing friend to shift him to a Delhi hospital, but it all went in vain.