The former Indian skipper MS Dhoni is regarded as one of the best skippers in the world. It was under his leadership that the Indian cricket team touched new milestones and won all the major tournaments including the three ICC World Cup tournaments. He is regarded as the smartest man on the field and his decisions and field-positions have always worked in favor of the Indian team.
Mitchell Santner, the Kiwi all-rounder is one player who has played under the leadership of the CSK skipper and the former Indian skipper, MS Dhoni. Recently, he claimed how under the leadership of MS Dhoni, has helped him understand the game of cricket better. He said:
“The more you get to play against players, you get that feel. You might think ‘Dhoni, why are you doing that?’ And then it works, more often than not,”
Santner also drew a comparison between MS Dhoni and the Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson and explained how both the cricketers don’t get heated up in the battle. He said:
“I think Kane is very similar when it comes to how he portrays himself on the field. He doesn’t get heated up in the battle and has set plans and executes them,”
He added:
“I think they are very similar in the way they conduct themselves on the field. They try to be very calm and relaxed. Dhoni is very instinctive with his decisions. He just has slight changes of field and changes in bowling and stuff,”
Talking about how MS is a chattier skipper, Santner said:
“It’s got to be MS (chattier captain) because he is behind the stumps. He has got to get into the batsman’s head. Whereas Kane hides at mid-off and talks to the bowlers.”
Santner, who was bought by the CSK in IPL 2018 auction, says you understand a player more when you play against them. He said:
“When you play with guys who’ve played against, they look different. You get to understand them more. l always wanted to play with guys like Dhoni. Playing for New Zealand, I have played India a lot, home and away. Just the way he kind of goes about his business is calm and relaxed.”
Santner added:
“I obviously tried to do something similar. And then you get to speak to those guys, it’s all such a good learning space for growing your game,”
