New Delhi: Kuldeep Yadav was mortally scared that day and he had every reason to be. After all, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, by his own admission, had lost his cool for the first time in 20 years.

And it was the left-arm china man bowler who got a tongue lashing from the veteran for not adhering to his instructions while bowling during an ODI against Sri Lanka in 2017.

"Kusal (Perera) smashed a boundary over the covers. Dhoni Bhai shouted from behind the wickets to change the fielding. I did not listen to his suggestion and next ball, Kusal hit another boundary with a reverse sweep," Kuldeep told sports anchor Jatin Sapru during an instagram chat.

And what happened next was something that Kuldeep hadn't factored in.

"...angry Dhoni came up to me and said, ''main pagal hu? 300 one-day khela hoon, aur samjha raha hoon yahaan pe.' (Am I mad? I have played 300 ODIs and you are not listening to me)."

So scared was the UP spinner that he went up to Dhoni in the team bus to apologise.

"I said sorry and asked him if he ever got angry like this. He replied: '20 saal se gussa nahi kiya hai (I have never been angry in the last 20 years.)'.