# Rahane recalls Dhoni’s open-door approach to teammates 2026-08-06T04:20:05+00:00 | India | Indian Opinion Desk Ajinkya Rahane, who retired from international cricket last week, described former India captain MS Dhoni as calm and approachable, recalling on the Stick to Cricket podcast that Dhoni's room was almost always open for ten to fifteen teammates, or the whole squad, to gather in, though nobody entered when the door was shut, NDTV Sports reported. Rahane made his international debut across all three formats under Dhoni's captaincy and later shared a Chennai Super Kings dressing room with him in the 2023 and 2024 Indian Premier League seasons. In the same interview, Rahane said he deletes social media during series, a habit he credited to advice from Ben Stokes in 2017, and described a personal routine of watching shows, reading and preparing for the next day to help him stay mentally fresh. Rahane's Test career included 5,077 runs from 85 matches, with 12 centuries. ## Indian Opinion Analysis This is a single personal anecdote, offered by one former teammate, about one detail of Dhoni's conduct in the dressing room, and the report does not claim it represents a comprehensive account of his character or captaincy. Positive recollections of widely admired players can drift toward broader claims when repeated, a risk avoided here by keeping the anecdote to what Rahane actually said rather than generalising from it. Rahane's own retirement, announced the same week, is the more significant news element bundled into this account, though not the subject the quotes actually address. That retirement closes out a Test career of 5,077 runs from 85 matches and 12 centuries, the fixed record now sitting alongside this single dressing-room recollection. ## Coverage - sports.ndtv.com Tags: Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/when-his-door-was-shut-no-one-was-allowed-rahane-on-dhonis-room/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/when-his-door-was-shut-no-one-was-allowed-rahane-on-dhonis-room/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.