MS Dhoni will clap if a good ball gets hit for a six, claims Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan, who played under MS Dhoni in the IPL for three seasons, has revealed that the CSK skipper claps for the bowlers’ good deliveries even if that goes for a six. The spin wizard has also added that Dhoni listens to everyone before taking a decision in his own way.
Muttiah Muralitharan might have retired from Test cricket in 2010, but he continued to pursue his own discourse in limited-overs cricket, helping Sri Lanka to the final in the 2011 World Cup, while he was also a part of the IPL till 2014. In the course of his seven-edition long IPL career, the off-spinner turned up for CSK, Kochi Tuskers Kerala and later Royal Challengers Bangalore, but it was with the men in yellow he had the most success as a spinner. It gave him a chance to understand MS Dhoni’s thought-process and how he operates as a leader and gave strong reasons for why the wicket-keeper is so successful.
"Definitely he was a young captain, I would say. It was in the 2007 World Cup that he captained and won. But his theories are very nice to see. Because he will give the ball to the bowler and tell him to set the field and bowl. If it wasn’t working, then he would ask them to give a chance to the field he sets,” Muralitharan told India off-spinner R Ashwin in his show DRS with Ash.
"He (Dhoni) will clap if a good ball gets hit for a six. He’ll tell the bowler that it’s a good ball, and it doesn’t matter if the batsman has hit you for a six. Batsmen too have the talent to hit. “So with that kind of appreciation, he’ll call you alone, to tell you what’s needed instead of doing it in public because of those qualities, he has been so successful.”
When Dhoni took over as the CSK’s captain in the inaugural edition, just after leading a bunch of youngsters to a World Cup win, he was a rather young commodity yet so confident in his own skin. While Dhoni never shied away from seeking help from seniors, he remained his own man in taking the final decision, something that Muralitharan was hugely appreciative of.
“He has the ability to think calmly, it’s because of these plus points that he became such a good leader. Even when he was young, he’d listen to advice (from seniors). He’ll listen to people and then he’ll make the decision at the end of the day. That’s how he used to captain.
“But more than that, he wouldn’t care about how players bat in the IPL. But he wants the players who can win the match for you. That’s how he went about his business,” Murali added.
0
0
0
0
0
0
Comments
Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions
0 Comments