Gautam Gambhir also praised Virat Kohli for his captaincy in the ongoing IPL season.
Ex-Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir rated the captains of the franchises who have qualified for the playoffs in IPL 2021. He lauded Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli for their captaincy this season.
Gambhir even called Dhoni 'number 1' in terms of captaincy at the moment in the ongoing tournament. CSK finished at the second spot in the points table with 9 wins in 14 matches.
The 39-year-old also spoke on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Eoin Morgan, and he is not very much impressed with him. He said Morgan doesn't captain the side, and he only follows the video analyst.
"Morgan's point of view, I'm not sure because he doesn't captain, so it's the video analyst that captains the side. He only just looks at the video analyst, so I don't know whether he's the captain on the field or (if the) captaincy is happening off the field," Gambhir said speaking on ESPNcricinfo show 'Runorder'.
Praising Kohli for his leadership this season, Gambhir said he looked like enjoying the role as it's his last IPL as captain of RCB. "Virat has been fabulous. Honestly, I have not enjoyed a lot of his captaincy, but this time around, he's been very, very good. Probably the reason is because he thinks this is his last time as captain in IPL, (so) he wants to enjoy it more; he's just more relaxed. And he's got the bowlers this time..," he said.
Rishabh Pant is captaining Delhi Capitals (DC) this season and he led them to the top of the points table. Gambhir said Pant has benefitted from the company of experienced players in his team.
"Purely from the captaincy point of view who can handle the pressure best, probably has to be Dhoni. Rishabh has the advantage from a point of view that he's got a lot of experience in the playing XI. If Steve Smith plays, he's got him alongside. He has got Ravichandran Ashwin who has captained earlier as well... so for me, Dhoni is No. 1 at the moment," he added.
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)