"The word captaincy almost became synonymous with MS Dhoni" - Dr Shashi Tharoor picks the best Indian captain
Lok Sabha MP Dr Shashi Tharoor said MS Dhoni became a synonym for ‘captaincy’ ever since he won India the inaugural 2007 World T20 in his maiden captaincy assignment. The Indian politician said MS Dhoni is the best Indian captain, according to him.
In a live session with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda’s Facebook page, Dr Tharoor heaped praise on MS Dhoni for growing into the captaincy role and leading the team by example. MS Dhoni took over the reins of the Indian team while stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, and Harbhajan Singh were still around.
“Especially after his first exciting year when he won the T20 World Cup and settled into the role after that, the word ‘captaincy’ almost became synonymous with Mahendra Singh Dhoni. You could see the rest of the team looked up to him in every conceivable respect – as a player, as a leader, as a tactician, as a figure who inspired them, as somebody who led them, as someone who never lost his head, always very cool and calm,” said Dr. Tharoor.
While drawing comparisons with current Indian captain Virat Kohli, Dr Tharoor said that MS Dhoni sometimes seemed to be laid back in his approach and let things drift in Test cricket. However, he emphasised that MS Dhoni was a completely different captain in the shorter formats.
No wonder, MS Dhoni remains the only captain to have won all three ICC trophies – World T20 in 2007, World Cup in 2011 and Champions Trophy in 2013. He is also the first Indian captain to have guided the team to the summit of the ICC Test rankings in 2009.
That MS Dhoni innings against Sri Lanka
Speaking of his batting exploits in white-ball cricket, Dr Tharoor exclaimed that MS Dhoni’s 183 versus Sri Lanka in 2005 was even better than all three of Rohit Sharma’s double hundreds.
“His 183 not out against Sri Lanka batting at No. 3 was the best ODI innings I have seen...unbelievable the way in which he commanded the ground. Even more dramatically than Rohit’s double centuries, which were equally spectacular but somehow there was something about Dhoni,” Dr. Tharoor added.
MS Dhoni is only second wicketkeeper after Kumar Sangakkara to have scored over 10,000 runs in ODI history. In 350 matches, Dhoni has scored 10,773 runs at a staggering average of 50.57.