Last Updated on 9 months ago by Charbel Coorey

Master Tactician MS Dhoni: How MSD led from the front | How MS Dhoni was more than just a captain, but a great leader for India and CSK

World cricket has seen so many great captains across eras. From Clive Lloyd to Steve Waugh, fans have seen different styles of captains leading their team, different personalities, and different approaches.

A captain is one who expects his team to produce results, but a leader is one who’ll lead from the front. And as the leader of the team, you’ve to take care of maintaining balance in the team, be it in terms of temperament or focus. Captains can make or break a good game. Indian cricket in particular was blessed to have good leaders like Kapil Dev, M. Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly. But, the one name which stands out from the others is MS Dhoni.

Inarguably the greatest ever Indian captain, his record as a captain and achievements speak volumes about his understanding of the game.

MS Dhoni’s international career as a captain

Dhoni was appointed as the captain of the Indian Test team overtaking Anil Kumble, just a year after he took over the skipper role in limited-overs cricket. And since then, there was no stopping to Dhoni and his team.

Dhoni led his team as the full-time skipper from 2007 to 2016. His first appearance as the Indian captain was a washout against Scotland in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 2007. And it was a script written by MSD that India against the odds went on to emerge as champions of the inaugural World T20.

That was the first real impression of MS the Captain and at that very moment, people thought that he’ll bring more glories to Indian cricket.

MS was exceptional during his tenure as a Captain. Indeed, a leader of his quality is tough to find in modern days.

MSD was a leader who always used to take the onus on himself. The quality of a good leader is how you manage your players, including how you back them even if they were going through a bad phase. Dhoni would often give them a pat on the back and will make them realise that yes you belong to this level, that’s why you’re in the team. That was his biggest quality as a leader. Because he believed that one should focus on the process rather than results; that’s how you can get the best out of your player. Virat, Rohit, Raina all are prime examples of that.

Adding to his leadership traits, his ability to read the game, make things happen, out of the box thinking, and a cool head on his shoulders with a computerized brain made Dhoni the incredible leader that others can follow on the journey.

He’s the best example of handling the success and failure. He rarely used to show his emotions on the field, as his composure in tight situations was the biggest plus with him. In a country like India where the fans are so passionate about the game, where cricket is celebrated as a festival, it takes more effort than climbing an Mt. Everest for an Indian captain to lead and produce results for his country. And Dhoni did it brilliantly.

MS Dhoni’s record as an international captain

Dhoni led India in 332 games – the most by any captain in international cricket. The next best in the list is the Australian great Ricky Ponting with 324 matches.

In the red-ball format, he has played 60 games as the captain, winning 27 matches with 18 in the losing cause and 15 ending in a draw. Dhoni fared better as the leader of India, averaging 40.63 with the bat with 3,454 runs in the longest form of the game.

In ODI Cricket, he captained the team in 200 games with 110 wins under his belt and two ICC 50-overs trophies. As a captain, he scored 6,641 runs at an astonishing average of 53.55.

In T20Is, Dhoni captained the most number of matches (72), with the most number of wins in the shortest format (41) and highest win percentage (59.28) for a captain with 50+ matches. Add to that over a thousand runs (1,112) at an average of 37.06 with the bat while leading his team.

Achievements:

• Dhoni is the only captain lead his team to titles across all three formats- ICC WT20 in 2007, ICC World Cup 2011, ICC Champions Trophy in 2013, and World number one Test ranking.
• 2008 CB series win in Australia.
• The first Indian captain to win the Test mace in 2009.
• 2009 Test series win in New Zealand.
• Whitewash over Australia in 2012-13 Border-Gavaskar series (4-0).
• Winning a Test at Lord’s after 28 years.

MS Dhoni’s career as an IPL captain

It all started in 2008 when MS Dhoni was picked by Chennai Super Kings, emerging as the hottest property on the show. And since then, he forged a treasurable bond with CSK. His fame grew through the years and then fans started calling him ‘Thala’, quickly becoming one of the most popular figures in the state.

He led the team to title wins in 2010, 2011, and 2018, played 174 games, and holds a win percentage of 59.8. Under him, CSK is the only team to qualify for playoffs every season. In the two seasons that CSK were not a part of IPL, he was part of Rising Pune Supergiant (2016-17) where he took the role of captaincy in 2016. After a bad season by his standards, where his team didn’t make it to the playoffs, Steve Smith was named as the captain for the tenth season of the IPL.

Even after retiring from international cricket, he still has much to offer to his IPL team, CSK. And his fans will be hoping that he’ll make it four titles when the tournament starts on 19th September.

Achievements:

• 2010, 2011, and 2018 IPL Trophy.
• Only captain to take his team (CSK) to playoffs in every season they took part in.
• Only captain to retain the IPL title. He did that in the fourth edition of the IPL.

It’s hard to lead a team for such a long time and it’s even harder when your primary role is to play as the wicketkeeper-batsman. But he did everything with ease and that makes him an all-time great; an absolute legend of the game. He was the pioneer of India’s success since he took charge of the men in Blue in 2007. The exemplary leader will go down as one of the very best captains ever to enhance the game.

Written by Vaibhav Tripathi. Follow Vaibhav on Twitter today.