IPL 2021: "The Chennai Super Kings' biggest strength is MS Dhoni" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra has picked the leadership of MS Dhoni as the Chennai Super Kings' biggest strength.
The talismanic skipper has led the Chennai-based franchise to three IPL titles - the second-most in the league's history, only behind the five won by the Mumbai Indians.
While talking about the strengths of the Chennai Super Kings in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra named MS Dhoni as their shining beacon.
"The Chennai Super Kings' biggest strength is MS Dhoni. A team which has a captain and visionary like MS Dhoni, I think he is one of the most prized assets in IPL cricket or the legacy of Indian cricket," said Chopra.
The former India cricketer pointed out that the Chennai Super Kings skipper is known to extract the best from his players while fine-tuning their skills.
"He does not find players but makes them. He finds the positives in the players and gets the best out of them and this year is going to be no different," highlighted Chopra.
While there is no denying MS Dhoni's astute leadership qualities, his batting will be the focus of attention during IPL 2021. He will hope to turn things around and be back to his former self with the willow.
Aakash Chopra on the Chennai Super Kings' other two strengths
Aakash Chopra believes the experience in the Chennai Super Kings squad will hold them in good stead in crunch situations.
"The experience in the Chennai Super Kings' squad is their second strength. This team has a lot of experience. They have Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raini, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Moeen Ali - they have so much experience that they know how to win the crucial moments in T20 cricket," said Chopra.
The 43-year-old signed off by picking the multitude of all-rounders in the Chennai Super Kings squad as another of the franchise's strengths.
"Their third strength is that they have multi-dimensional players and they have got quite a few, whether it is Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina. The captain MS Dhoni likes such players," concluded Chopra.
The presence of so many multi-faceted players does give the Chennai Super Kings the flexibility to choose their playing XI according to the pitch conditions.