"He didn't make anyone feel insecure in the team" - Aakash Chopra on why the big players flourished under MS Dhoni's captaincy
Aakash Chopra has picked MS Dhoni's immense faith in his players and his consistent team selections as one of the primary reasons behind the talismanic skipper's success.
MS Dhoni led Team India to three ICC trophies - the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. His only loss in the final of an ICC event came at the 2014 T20 World Cup.
While reflecting on MS Dhoni's success as skipper in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra highlighted that the security he provided to his players was the greatest aspect of his leadership.
"Dhoni's class has been that under him the team has flourished. The few things I see that make Dhoni the best captain in the world is that he doesn't make changes. He didn't make anyone feel insecure in the team."
The former India cricketer pointed out that MS Dhoni fielded almost the same team during the course of most tournaments.
"If you see his team from the league stage to the knockouts, the team and the protagonists have remained the same. He has always got players who make runs in the big encounters. When you reach the quarterfinals, semi-finals or a final, the team that makes the least mistakes wins, the team that panics the least and the team which consistently plays the same XI so that all players are secure in the end."
Although MS Dhoni used 15 players in the 2011 World Cup, seven of them played in all nine matches. Yusuf Pathan made way for Suresh Raina towards the latter stages of the tournament because of the former's indifferent form, which was the only significant change. All the other changes were made only due to injuries or based on the conditions.
Aakash Chopra on the players flourishing under MS Dhoni's leadership
Aakash Chopra highlighted that star players like Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni himself rose to the occasion in the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup. He added that almost the entire team made telling contributions in the 2013 Champions Trophy triumph.
"That's what MS Dhoni did for his team. If you see the 2007 and 2011 finals, you will remember Gautam Gambhir. You will remember the entire 2011 World Cup for Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni himself in the final. In 2013, you will see consistent performances from everybody."
The 43-year-old signed off by pointing out that none of the Indian players, barring Virat Kohli, stood out with the bat in the 2014 T20 World Cup final. This was MS Dhoni's only reversal as skipper in the final of an ICC event.
"In 2014, you were left behind because only Kohli's bat fired while it fell silent for the rest of the players. So Dhoni the captain will always be dependent on some players. The big-ticket players, they all came to the party in knockout matches."
MS Dhoni won 70% of the matches when he captained Team India in the semi-finals or finals of an ICC tournament. His only three losses came in the final of the 2014 T20 World Cup and the semi-finals of both the 2015 ODI World Cup and the 2016 T20 World Cup.