100 Thieves has drawn much attention recently, with
their last split in the LTA North marked by sudden roster changes and a rough start to their first few series. After adding NA toplane veteran
Niship āDhoklaā Doshi to the team in his first ever coaching position, the team went 0-2 while starting young toplaner
Rayan "Sniper" Shoura. They quickly brought Dhokla off of the coaching staff and onto the starting roster, just days after he initially joined. After his 100T debut, a Saturday loss vs.
Shopify Rebellion (SR), Dhokla sat down with Sheep Esports to talk about his new team, his future as a player or coach, his namesake food, and more.
You played against your old teammates, Cristian "Palafox" Palafox and Juan "Contractz" Garcia, who you played with for years on CLG and NRG. You also supported SR as a costreamer, but now youāre up against them. How does that feel?
Niship āDhoklaā Doshi: "Feels fun. Iām just versing my friends, so I want to win against them and shit on them. Game 1, we did a good job of that, but the rest of the series... I got a little too excited on the top play with Sion, and then we ended up losing. But itās all good. I had fun, though obviously it doesnāt do well for our chances."
You joined the LCS years ago on OpTic Gaming. Since then, youāve gone back to Academy for a few years, then back to LCS, just recently into coaching, and now youāre back again already. Do you get a sense of whiplash going back and forth, or are you used to everything by now?
Dhokla: Iām kind of used to it, but Iām also just grateful for the opportunities that I have. Not being on a team at the start of the year obviously didnāt feel good, and I had a quarter-life crisis, like āwhat do I want to do now?ā because League has pretty much been my whole adult life. I had no idea what to do, so Iām glad I got this opportunity, and just want to make the most of it.
Do you see your future in coaching, as 100 Thieves originally hired you for, or were you always planning on a return to pro play, and this just came sooner than expected?
Dhokla: I think I want to do coaching once Iām terrible at the game, but I donāt think Iām there yet. As long as I can play, I will try to play, and if not, then Iāll go into coaching. But I feel like Iāll always have that drive to be a player and not a coach, because I always grind a lot. In my head, Iām still in player mode.
How good was Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami today in the toplane? He had a pretty good start on Gwen, but you managed to win that game. Did you feel a lot of pressure from him in particular?
Dhokla: He did fine; I think I was just a little too aggressive. In the first game, I took some tower shots. In the Sion game, I was doing well, and I just trolled the game on the top dive. In the last game, the swap scenario kind of put me behind, and Iām playing a comp where weāre just completely outscaled. I think if our drafts were a little bit better, at least in Game 3 ā Game 2, if I didnāt grief the game top, we wouldāve been in a really good spot. They didnāt have a tank killer, with Ezreal as their AD Carry, so the game wouldāve been simple if Iād just played normal.
One thing you bring to 100 Thieves is another dimension to the teamās drafting. You not only have stability picks, like todayās Sion, but also skill with Irelia and many soloqueue games this split on Jayce. Do you think youāll take a carry role on the team going forward?
Dhokla: Iāll play whatever I think is good. Itās hard to get Irelia in good spots right now, but Jayce is more of a four-five game in Fearless type of pick. Once most of the tanks are out, then you can pick Jayce, so it depends on the Fearless Draft format. But Iām willing to play everything, honestly, and Iām glad my coaches have given me the freedom to pursue that. Especially in Fearless, they donāt really say ānoā on my picks, so I like that.
Is the food "dhokla" actually your favorite food? Or just one you chose for your username?
Dhokla: Oh no, itās not, haha, itās like mid.
Whatās your favorite then? You donāt even like dhokla?
Dhokla: I mean itās mid, Iāll eat it, but I donāt really like it that much. My favorite is paneer butter masala, probably. With naan. Thatās hard to beat.
Are you a fan of the nickname "Big Dhokes"?
Dhokla: I am!
After 100 Thieves lost last split, you made a Twitter joke post referencing a Charles Barkley joke, saying theyād spend their offseason on Galveston Island. Are you going to save the team from Galveston this split?
Dhokla: I mean, weāre not even going to Galveston. Weāre going to the dumpster. I mean, weāre gonna go to Cancun ā after we win the split. Thatās the goal. I could see us winning.
Header Image Credit: Photo by Stefan Wisnoski
