New Delhi: Legendary off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan praised former India-skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his expertise in captaincy. Murali said the best role about Dhoni’s mastery was that he believed the bowler and gave him the freedom to set his own field.
“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,” Murali was quoted as saying to India off-spinner R Ashwin on his Youtube chat show DRS with Ash.
Murali, who has played under Dhoni’s captaincy in IPL Chennai Super Kings (CSK), said Dhoni would sometimes clap for the bowler when a good ball was hit for a six. “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,” he said.
Murali who scored 1256 runs in Tests added, “So with that kind of appreciations, 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.”
More explaining Dhoni’s qualities as a leader, Murali said Dhoni always listened to the advice of seniors even at a young age. “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,” he added.
“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.” Dhoni, who has led CSK in all 10 seasons of IPL, is supposed to return to cricket as their leader in IPL 2020 which will take place in the UAE from September 19 to November 10.
