'MS Dhoni is the best captain I have played under,' says Piyush Chawla
Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla recently named MS Dhoni as the best captain he has played under. The former KKR bowler also appreciated Gautam Gambhir's qualities of always leading from the front.
Piyush Chawla shared his views on the various captains he had played under and the great equation he shares with MS Dhoni on Aakash Chopra's YouTube channel.
On being asked about his experience of playing under Gautam Gambhir, Piyush Chawla praised his KKR skipper for the backing and confidence he gave to every player.
"Honestly speaking I have played under so many captains, I really enjoyed playing under Gauti bhai. The way he backs his player, that is what a bowler or batsman wants that the captain has confidence on him, that was very good under Gauti bhai."
Chawla also extolled Gautam Gambhir as the best example of a captain leading from the front.
"If you check the records, whichever player has played under Gambhir, he has got to play at least 6-7 matches and not dropped after playing just one match. As we say the captain should be leading from the front, he is actually the correct example. He used to come in the forefront whenever there was a difficult phase in the match."
On being asked if he would rate Gambhir as the best captain he had played under, Piyush Chawla named MS Dhoni as the front-runner on that count. He was also quick to add that it was difficult to compare two captains.
"The best I would still say Mahi bhai. You can't really compare two captains to be honest, because everyone has a different way of looking at it. Sometimes, Gauti bhai used to come and tell you that if you do like this, what would be the result."
Piyush Chawla also highlighted the similarity in the captaincy styles of MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir, with both of them giving a lot of freedom to the bowler to execute his plans.
"If you see Mahi bhai, he is also like that, he leaves it to you. You can't really compare, there are a lot of things that both do similarly. Both of them leave it to the bowler on what he feels like doing. If that doesn't work out, then they shift to Plan B."
Piyush Chawla about his experiences with MS Dhoni at the CSK nets
Piyush Chawla was also asked about MS Dhoni's form at the CSK nets before the lockdown-enforced break. The new recruit revealed that the Super Kings' captain was at his devastating best during the camp.
"Honestly speaking, if a cricketer comes after such a long time you feel that he will be a little rusty. But I am sure he was doing something or the other in Ranchi because when he came in the camp, he didn't look rusty at all. He used to come and play 5-6 balls watchfully and then smash all the balls into the crowd."
He also added that MS Dhoni and the other senior players were spending long hours at the nets.
"He was batting for long periods. In fact, Raina bhai, Rayudu, Murali Vijay - there were limited people in the camp and we had lot of bowlers - so everyone was spending almost 2-2.5 hours at the nets. All batsmen were playing around 200-250 balls."
Aakash Chopra queried if there were any discussions with MS Dhoni on his future plans, to which Chawla responded that there no such talks during the camp.
"There was no discussion on this topic there, to be very honest. Because everyone was focused on IPL preparations, so no one thought about it or talked about it. The focus was only on the IPL and no one was thinking ahead."
Piyush Chawla signed off by talking about the great relationship he enjoys with MS Dhoni and how the latter's small inputs make a huge difference.
"And I have a different type of relation with Mahi bhai, our cricket discussions are limited. A great captain will not explain too much, he will just say a small thing and you will feel that he is speaking the correct thing."