MS Dhoni's style of captaincy is similar to Steve Waugh: Andy Bichel
Former Australian fast bowler and member of the 2003 World Cup winning campaign, Andy Bichel has said that Indian skipper MS Dhoni’s style of leadership is similar to Steve Waugh, as both of them show enormous faith in their teammates’ ability to deliver sooner or later when they are in a rut.
“His captaincy is a bit Steve Waugh-like. He sits back a little bit and lets the players do their thing. He backs his players and I think that’s the important part and Steve had that. That is why MS has been successful. He has that strong belief in his players and he tells players that you are in the team for this and now you use your skills,” Bichel told in an interview to The Indian Express.
‘Dhoni not a meeting man’
The 44-year-old, who is now the bowling coach of the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League(IPL), also said that the 2011 World Cup winning captain doesn't spend a lot of time on team meetings and instead focuses on conducting bonding sessions with the rest of the squad.
“He is not a meeting man at all. We only have team get-togethers. He speaks a little bit but now a little bit more as he is getting older. Which is great as he has this great cricket brain. Steve Waugh didn’t say things often, but when he said the boys hung on to those words.
“For me, it is important to talk on the field when things are not going right and you wouldn’t want to go on for long. So you pull everyone together and I think that’s a good trait to have. He is not afraid to stop the game and really pull his troops together and say this is not working we need to do something better.
“Today, everything in the game happens so quickly that it has to be done now, at the end of say the 17th over. Even if it is not a drinks break you pull the troops together. MS has done that a number of times,” Bichel said.
‘Dhoni gives freedom to his bowlers’
The Queenslander further said that Dhoni tends to give the bowler a free hand at the start, with regards to field settings and the rest of the tactics required to get the opposition batsmen out, and only when those ideas don't work out does he try to bring in his own ideas.
“My relationship with MS is to up the skill of the boys in training. For MS, he has to ask them to deliver a certain skill at a particular time of the game. If they can’t deliver that skill, he will change. I think initially he gives the bowlers the reins to do what they want to do. He has always done. That’s what he did with Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh at the last World Cup,” he said.
Talking about the Ranchi-born cricketer’s ability to finish off games, Bichel said that the quality that separates him from the rest is that he doesn’t look to hit boundaries from ball one, but emphasises on taking the singles and twos before starting to open out and play his shots.
“MS Dhoni is a great guy to manipulate the ball around the field, especially when he first goes in and then there are those who could go out there and hit. You can score heavily at the back end,” Bichel, who played 67 ODIs for his country, said.