In Indian cricket history, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a well-known personality. He is one of the best players ever to play for the Indian national team. Since the IPL’s debut in 2008, he has been the only player to captain the same team. He won three IPL titles and two Champions League championships with Chennai Super Kings. The wicket-keeper batsman has done an outstanding job as the team’s captain, leading them to three IPL wins in 2010, 2011, and 2018. Mahendra Singh Dhoni changed the game of cricket in India forever. With his cerebral captaincy and great temperament, he guided the Indian National Cricket Team to new heights after growing up under Sourav Ganguly’s mentorship.
He almost never lost faith in a player early on. Before picking up the phone, he’d play a few games with them. Despite the fact that it may not have happened with all of Dhoni’s teammates, the former India captain is known for his ability to trust and encourage them. After a great spell with the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, unknown local players have earned Team India call-ups.
Let’s look at the players who did amazing under the captaincy of MS Dhoni:
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Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja has been a part of the international cricket scene for almost a decade. The left-arm spinner, who bowls with metronomic precision, is one of the few Indian cricketers who now play all three forms. MS Dhoni has faith in Jadeja’s bat-and-ball abilities. He even urged that CSK pay a premium sum to get him in the IPL. Ravindra Jadeja has proven himself worthy of his trust. He was left out of the team for the 2011 World Cup. After that, he became a regular member of the white-ball teams. He had a strong relationship with Ravichandran Ashwin in white-ball cricket, while Harbhajan Singh faded. He was also fairly efficient with the bat.
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Ambati Rayadu
After a 7-year tenure with the Mumbai Indians, where Rayadu’s prospects dwindled as the years progressed, the 34-year-old batsman was signed by CSK ahead of the 2018 season of the IPL. With CSK, MSD gave Rayadu the chance to begin the innings, which he took advantage of to end as one of the best scorers in the tournament. The batsman amassed 602 runs in 16 games, with a strike rate of 149.75 and an average of 43, guiding the Super Kings to victory. Virat Kohli, the captain of Squad India, was impressed enough by his achievements in the IPL to grant him a berth on the national team at No. 4.
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Rohit Sharma
In the year 2013, the incredible development of India opener Rohit Sharma was chronicled. Prior to 2013, Rohit averaged 30.43 runs per innings in one-day internationals. At the end of the calendar year, Rohit Sharma was the world’s second-best run-scorer. After a long slump, Rohit was given another chance to open the batting in 2013, and his ODI batting statistics were drastically changed as a result. Rohit Sharma has transformed himself from a struggling batsman to a prolific batsman. And Dhoni, the genius, was involved. Since then, Rohit Sharma has never looked back, and his reputation as a cricketer has skyrocketed.
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Virat Kohli
In many respects, current Indian captain Virat Kohli owes a debt to his predecessor MS Dhoni. When Kohli was going through a tough phase in his career, the wicketkeeper backed him to the hilt, even sparing him from being dropped for India’s tour of Australia in 2012. Kohli struggled to score runs regularly early in his career, despite his enormous talent. His trip to England in 2011 was a flop. On the other side, MS Dhoni trusted in his abilities and retained him in the team. Kohli went on to become the world’s best batsman across all formats. For a long time, Virat Kohli has been in superb form. He has been incredibly consistent in scoring runs throughout all three forms. Without MS Dhoni’s constant backing, this may not have been possible.
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Suresh Raina
Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni’s right-hand man at CSK, was instrumental in India’s ICC tournament victories, including the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. India’s first World Cup victory in 28 years came because of the graceful southpaw’s key innings in the quarter-final against Australia and the semi-final against Pakistan. Dhoni constantly supported Suresh Raina to stay in the team, particularly in the limited-overs format. Raina’s success has been largely attributed to his Chepauk connection with MS Dhoni. Raina became immensely effective with the ball and, as usual, energetic on the field, thanks to Dhoni’s development of his game to fit the team’s demands.
