Young Dhoni was a shy, very quiet guy: Harbhajan

'He is still the same, he gives everyone all the freedom, this is probably something people should learn from him, you should give space to bowlers.'

Spinner Harbhajan Singh revealed said that former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was a very shy person when he first came into the Indian team and he only started opening up after the controversial Sydney Test against Australia in 2008.

"We have played a lot of cricket together, we have done tours to probably all the countries, MS Dhoni was a very shy guy, he never used to come to our rooms, he was a very quiet guy, in the 2008 series against Australia, the Sydney Test brought the team together, from that time onwards, he started opening up," said Harbhajan during an Instagram Live session on the official handle of Chennai Super Kings.

"He was a young guy in the team, he was the captain but still he was very shy, he used to give suggestions, but he allowed everyone to do their thing, he is still the same, he gives everyone all the freedom, this is probably something people should learn from him, you should give space to bowlers," he added.

The 2008 Sydney Test between India and Australia was marred by the infamous 'monkeygate' episode involving Harbhajan and Andrew Symonds.

Symonds had alleged that Harbhajan had passed a racist remark during the match, while India also had to face few bad decisions and the side ended up losing the match.

For the altercation with Symonds, Harbhajan was handed a three-match ban by referee Mike Procter although the charges were downgraded on 29 January 2008 to the lesser charge of using abusive language and the ban was lifted.

Dhoni is currently enjoying some time away from the game, having played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup last year

He is the only captain to win all major ICC trophies -- the ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy.

Under his leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket.