The former Indian skipper MS Dhoni is regarded as the most successful skippers around the world. India’s limited-overs deputy Rohit Sharma’s captaincy style is completely different from the captaincy style of the current Indian captain Virat Kohli.
Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians led by MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, respectively, are two of the most successful IPL teams. Rohit Sharma’s captaincy style has always been compared with the style of MS Dhoni.
Recently, in an interview, Suresh Raina voiced his opinion and claimed that Rohit’s captaincy style is very similar to the captaincy of MS Dhoni. Suresh Raina believes that his Rohit’s ability to motivate players and his calmness makes him very similar to MS Dhoni, he revealed:
“Rohit’s captaincy is very similar to MSD. The way he does things calmly, the way he motivates people. He is bindaas, he knows that whenever he goes to bat he’ll make runs. So this sort of confidence is there in a player then the rest of the players also pick that up from him this is what I like about Rohit.”
He added
“I recently saw in that final against Pune, Rohit made some 2-3 great moves as captain of Mumbai.. in crunch situation the way he made changes between overs on a dry wicket, the way he released pressure then created pressure. Watching that you know that he is taking all these decisions himself. Yes, there must be some advice coming from outside but in his mind he knows what to do when. No wonder he has won so many trophies as captain,”
During the interview, Suresh Raina also revealed that he never questioned MS Dhoni about his batting position. He revealed:
“No, I never questioned him about it. I remember during the 2015 World Cup he sent me higher up the order to bat and I got 70-80 odd in that game. Later that evening I asked him, how and why did you think of sending me that high up and he said because they had two leg-spinners bowling and he knew that I would play them better. Even now I think about those occasions.
He added:
“But I know that he (Dhoni) was always thinking one step ahead from us because they guy is standing behind the stumps, watching the entire proceedings, the cameras, the crowds, that man can’t be wrong. He knows how much it is swinging, how much the pitch is turning. God has certainly gifted him with some special ability and that’s why he’s been such a successful leader,”
Furthermore, Suresh Raina opened up about the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League and the chances of the league being played without overseas players. To which, Raina said that IPL won’t be that interesting without the foreign players. He said:
“I don’t think without foreigners IPL will ever be that interesting. Foreign players have to be there. They bring in experience and challenge of a different kind. Anyway there is the four foreign player in every team rule that exists and with foreign players around one enjoys more and one gets to learn a lot also, as has been the case since the beginning of IPL where top international batsmen and bowlers have been a part of it.”
