Dhoni also chose not to keep the wickets and Wriddhiman Saha wore the gloves in the Group B match at the Kingsmead.
Dhoni made a fine fielding effort in the third over of the Yorkshire innings, a last-minute dive near the boundary after a long chase but could not stop the ball from touching the ropes.
The crowd anticipated Dhoni to roll his arms as he had bowling practice before the start of the match. That moment arrived in the 15th over when Yorkshire were struggling at 88 for three. His expensive two overs, however, yielded 25 runs.
Bowling around the stumps, Dhoni conceded seven runs in the his first over with two wides though he did not concede a boundary.
He continued for another over -- 17th -- but was clobbered for two consecutive sixes to concede 18 from that over.