"He'll collect bags, he'll throw cricket balls" - Matthew Hayden hails MS Dhoni's 'humility' as key behind his captaincy success
Former Australian batter Matthew Hayden pointed to MS Dhoni's simplicity and humility as the major reasons behind his unparalleled success as captain. Hayden played under Dhoni for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) from 2008 to 2010, helping the franchise win its maiden title in his final season.
Dhoni has since led CSK to four more IPL titles in 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023. He also captained Team India admirably, leading the side to title runs in the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy.
In an interaction with Sports Vikatan, Hayden feels Dhoni's no-ego personality meant he could even captain the Australian side.
"Dhoni is exactly what I was saying before. He can easily sit in an Australian dressing room and easily captain it because he believes that he is not bigger than anyone else. He'll collect bags, he'll throw cricket balls. He's just a very humble individual. And he works hard at the team and not on promoting MS Dhoni," said Hayden.
He added:
"You'll never hear him telling people how great he is or what he's achieved. That is MS Dhoni's X-factor. You look at Australia and go '25 million people. How did they win the World Cup against us?' MS Dhoni... he just finds a way to galvanise people together and does it in a way that is nothing about ego, not about self-promotion."
MS Dhoni remains India's most successful captain across formats, with 178 wins in 332 games. The now-42-year-old is also the most accomplished captain in IPL history, with 133 wins in 226 matches.
"Thala will remain the iconic leader of this franchise forever" - Matthew Hayden
Matthew Hayden feels irrespective of whether MS Dhoni returns to play in the IPL next season, he will remain CSK's leader forever.
The champion cricketer has remained tight-lipped about his future despite the outside noise of the recently concluded IPL 2024 possibly being his final hurrah.
"Coming from a small village and finding a way to the hearts of India and hearts of Chennai in particular. Thala will remain the iconic leader of this franchise forever. But to hear him saying how great he is... you don't even hear from MS Dhoni. And that's his charm. Team before anyone and everyone loves that," said Hayden.
A day before the start of the IPL 2024 season, Dhoni relinquished CSK captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad. The side was inconsistent for most of the campaign and missed the playoffs with a defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their league-stage outing.
Yet, MS Dhoni was in terrific form batting down the batting order, averaging almost 54 at a strike rate of 220.55 in 14 games.