Former India batsman Krishnamachari Srikkanth has credited Anil Kumble for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s greatness and said Sourav Ganguly, on the other hand, was a completely different captain from the other two.
According to Srikkanth, Dhoni learnt a lot while Kumble was leading the Test side as that his true virtues of leadership were gathered from the former leg-spinner.
“When Dhoni was the captain in the 2007 T20 World Cup, he handled the side really well, the win boosted his confidence. He has always been calm and cool, he has motivated the players, aggressive culture was brought in by Sourav Ganguly, MS was totally opposite of that, when Kumble was the captain of the Test side, it was a good chance for Dhoni to learn. Anil gave him much-needed experience, Dhoni gave a lot of confidence to the players,” Srikkanth was quoted as saying by ANI.
As a captain, Dhoni has won everything that one can ask for. He is the first and the only captain in cricket’s history to lead his team to every ICC glory – the ICC World Cup in 2011, ICC World T20 in 2007 and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013.
Heaping praises on Dhoni, Srikkanth further said that the World Cup-winning captain had done a lot to India cricket but all that was a matter of past and if he was selected in Indian team again there would be “a microscope on him”.
“Dhoni has done a lot for Indian cricket, but the last ball of yesterday is all history, you start from scratch the next day, if he plays the T20 World Cup, there will be a microscope on him. We have freedom of speech so anybody can give an opinion, I am not Sunil Joshi (national selector) so I cannot decide. I am a fan of Dhoni so I am not Sunil Joshi (national selector) so I cannot decide. I am a fan of Dhoni so I,” Srikkanth said.
Meanwhile, Dhoni last played for India in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup after which he took a sabbatical from competitive cricket.