Ex-Indian speedster Ashish Nehra has said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly always backed the players no matter what.
“Dhoni had senior players around him when he took over and the challenge was how to manage them. Dada had a team of juniors and he backed them to the hilt. He would go all out to back his players,” Nehra said while speaking to former India opener Aakash Chopra on his show ‘Aakash Vani’ as quoted by IANS.
The Indian cricket fraternity has often raged the debate of who was the better captain among Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni and speaking about that Nehra said that both were totally different captains but knew how to get the best out of every cricketer in the team.
“Both (MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly) were totally different. But they both knew how to get the best out of their players. When Ganguly took over the team was new while Dhoni had the challenge of managing senior players in the side,” said Nehra.
“Ganguly had youngsters who he needed to take forward and improve. He supported all the young players and backed the players he felt were good. When we beat Australia in 2001 things changed and this was Ganguly’s quality that he went against all odds to back his players,” he added.
Speaking about the 2011 World Cup-winning captain, Nehra said that Dhoni was always open to a chat with the players and was always willing to help anyone who needed it.
Nehra further stated that even though many think that Dhoni did not speak much, he never turned away anyone who asked for his help and suggestion and that the door of his hotel room was open to everyone.
“People think that Dhoni doesn’t talk much. That is not the case. His room would remain open in the night after matches. Anyone could walk in, order food and discuss cricket.
“Be it in CSK or in the Indian team, Dhoni would pass on the message on what he thinks a player needs to do during a conversation and that would be enough for the players to get the drift,” added the 41-year-old.