Calm MS Dhoni was a very calculative captain, reveals Ashish Nehra
Ashish Nehra called MS Dhoni a calculative skipper
|BCCI
Delhi pacer Ashish Nehra has admitted that MS Dhoni was both a calming presence and a very calculative skipper in the Indian dressing room. Nehra also revealed that Dhoni’s job as a skipper was to try and give plenty of opportunities to the youngsters, with the seniors having established the core.
When a young MS Dhoni took over the reins in 2007, questions were posed over how he would handle the senior figures in the dressing room, especially given the torrid time the Men in Blue had suffered in the preceding couple of years, with the whole Ganguly-Chappell saga. However, to the surprise of the critics, Dhoni not only made a World-cup winning team out of the talents but he also made India a force to reckon with. A fellow World-cup winner and part of the 2011 successful team, Ashish Nehra revealed that MS Dhoni was a very calculative skipper back in the day.
“Dhoni was a very calculative captain. He wasn’t impulsive and stayed calm. He used to try and give as much opportunity as he could to the players. He forged a great partnership with Kirsten. He had the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Yuvraj and Harbhajan in his team,” said Nehra, reported Hindustan Times.Â
The former pacer also was of high praise for the CSK skipper and appreciated the wicket-keeper for the way he handled both himself and the team when he took over the reins.Â
“Even in the 2007 WT20 he had to lead a team that had seniors. You have to appreciate him for the way he handled himself and the team,” Nehra added.
Nehra also compared Dhoni with predecessor Sourav Ganguly who, according to the 41-year-old, had a challenge of creating a team from scratch. The Delhi pacer also revealed that Ganguly would go to the extent of fighting with the selectors in order to back his players.
“Ganguly had the challenge of creating a new team while Dhoni had a great coach like Gary Kirsten and he had a team that was ready. His challenge was to lead so many senior players. The good thing about Dada (Ganguly) was that he would mark the players he knew he had to back and he would go to the extent of fighting with the selectors and speaking to the president to back them,” he concluded.
