Tim Southee picks Indian legend as the cricketer he would want to swap lives with for one day
New Zealand skipper Tim Southee has named former India captain and cricket legend MS Dhoni as the player he would want to swap lives with for a day. The seasoned Kiwi pacer explained that he would want to experience life as Dhoni.
Southee is one of New Zealand's most successful bowlers of all time. Having made his international debut back in 2008, the 35-year-old has so far featured in 100 Tests, 161 ODIs, and 126 T20Is, claiming 765 international wickets.
The experienced New Zealand cricketer attended the CEAT cricket rating awards in Mumbai recently. During the event, he was asked a rather interesting question - If he could swap lives with any cricketer for a day, who would it be & why? The seasoned fast bowler replied: (as quoted by Times Now)
"MS Dhoni - just wanted to see how life will be as MS Dhoni."
One of the biggest superstars of Indian cricket, Dhoni remains the only skipper to have won all three ICC while-ball trophies. Under him, India won the T20 World Cup in 2007, the ODI World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013. The legendary keeper-batter has also led Chennai Super Kings to a record-equaling five Indian Premier League (IPL) titles.
"I don’t think there’s anyone better" - Tim Southee hails Jasprit Bumrah
Kiwi pacer Southee has hailed his Indian counterpart Jasprit Bumrah as a tremendous all-format bowler. He went to the extent of saying that, at the moment, there doesn't seem to be anyone better than Bumrah. Praising the pacer for making an excellent comeback after a career-threatening injury, Southee said: (as quoted as saying by news agency PTI)
“To be able to firstly bounce back from the major injury and come back, he’s even better than what he was beforehand. Throw in on top of that, having to juggle multiple formats, can be difficult at times as well.
“We are just seeing a great version (of Bumrah) across all three formats. He’s brilliant across all three at the moment. I don’t think there’s anyone that he’s better in (better than him), he is tremendous across all three (formats),” the 35-year-old went on to add.
Bumrah was the Player of the Tournament in the 2024 T20 World Cup, which India won by remaining unbeaten in the competition. The right-arm pacer claimed 15 wickets in eight matches at an average of 8.27 and a superb economy rate of 4.18.