Over the years, MS Dhoni has groomed a number of cricketers. Giving chances to youngsters, backing them in tough situations, getting the best out of them on the field, these are the qualities of good leaders and Dhoni certainly has all of them. Speaking of the former India and current Chennai Super Kings captain, S Badrinath gave a little more insights into the sort of leader Dhoni is.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Badrinath, who has played with Dhoni in the IPL for CSK, revealed how Dhoni would go the extra mile in supporting a player if he has the belief in him but would not change his mind even if the almighty comes down to tell him when he believes the player isn’t good enough.
“Dhoni always felt that roles are very important, and most of the time, mine was to get the team out of tough situations,” Badrinath said. “My role was there in the middle order. The biggest strength of Dhoni is that he gives players that extra chance. If Dhoni believes Badri is good, that’s it. Badri is there. Once he believes it’s right, he sticks to the process. ‘I will give him chances, let him prove himself.’
“Similarly, if he believes you are not good enough, even god cannot help you. He has his own mindset and sticks to it no matter what.”
Dhoni has been the captain of CSK since the start of the Indian Premier League in 2008. There have been many occasions were players who performed well for the Chennai franchise got opportunities in the Indian team while Dhoni was leading the Men in Blue. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are probably the two players who managed to grab the opportunities with both hands, the same can’t be said about many others.
Speaking of the franchise, Badrinath said that the environment within the team doesn’t change, no matter if the payers end up winning or losing the matches.
“Irrespective of how we’d performed, the owners treated us the same. Plus, we always had an amazing camaraderie and team environment… our get togethers, the bosses would always be like ‘we know you’re a champion side’. We had MS Dhoni as our captain so it flowed from the top to Dhoni and to the team,” Badrinath said.
