"These boys will fight for you"- KL Rahul on what he learned from MS Dhoni the leader
Indian star batter KL Rahul spoke about the different captains that he has played for like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and now Rohit Sharma. Rahul made his Test debut under Dhoni's captaincy and while he didn't play under him for a long time, he tried to inculcate the leadership values that Dhoni had.
Rahul spoke about how calm MS Dhoni was under pressure and how he built a bond with each player, which in the end helped them play as a force to be reckoned with.
On 'The Ranveer Show' podcast, here's what KL Rahul had to say about his learnings from MS Dhoni:
"I have been captained by such great leaders, starting with MS Dhoni, while he was playing, you know he was the captain, he was my captain, my first captain. I have seen how he handled the team and his calmness, the things that he does behind the scenes like building a relationship with each person are something that I have learned from him. You know, you need to build a relationship where these boys will fight for you and will be with you. That is something I learned from him."
KL Rahul on Virat Kohli's leadership
KL Rahul played most of his international career under Virat Kohli's captaincy and acknowledged the latter for the change that he brought in the team culture. Rahul spoke about how the importance on fitness increased and how that benefited Indian cricket as a whole.
On this, he stated:
"Then Virat Kohli was our leader for six-seven years and the thing is that the Indian team did under him, the stats are there to be seen and it was phenomenal. The passion, the aggression brought in, he set the standard really high, and his way of leading and captaining was like leading from the front and showing the team how to achieve greatness. He did that and we all jumped on board, we got inspired by the things that he was doing and we tried to be a better version of ourselves and that is something that Virat created and gave each player the power or the realisation to do that you don’t have to settle for mediocre."
Rahul also spoke about how his experience has been under Rohit Sharma's captaincy. He shed light on Rohit's knowledge of matchups and how he prepares himself for every opponent. On this, KL Rahul added:
“Rohit Sharma, who is like so sharp, as a leader, his strategies, he does a lot of homework before the game, he knows each person’s strengths and what he will do and he’s put under pressure, where you need to attack him or where are the flaws in his technique and like he is really really good at strategies and understanding the game. All these things are the things I have learned from these people."
Rohit will be leading India into the ODI World Cup later this year with the hope of ending India's 12-year wait for the coveted trophy.