“You cannot command or demand respect, it has to be earned”: MS Dhoni shares his leadership mantra

Dhoni is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains in the history of cricket.

MS Dhoni’s achievement as a cricketer is surreal, to say the least. The 42-year-old has etched his name as one of the finest captains in the history of the game.

Dhoni is the only skipper in the history of cricket to have won all three ICC white-ball trophies – 2007 World T20, 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy. He also led Team India to the No. 1 rankings in Test cricket.

While Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2020, he continues to feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He has captained CSK to as many as five IPL titles and two Champions League T20 (CLT20) titles.

Days after he featured in the IPL 2024 as a wicketkeeper-batter, MS Dhoni shared his leadership mantra. He highlighted that a captain earns respect by how they "walk and talk" in moments of defeat.

"You lead by example through ups and downs because when you are successful it's very easy to say this is what we do but when times are tough is the real-time and you have to walk that talk - in those moments if you are still the same, that time you earn the respect," Dhoni said in a video posted by Dubai Eye 103.8 YouTube channel.

"The important thing is that you need to earn the respect of the people you are leading. You cannot command or demand respect, it has to be earned. I may have a position in the institution and it needs to be respected. But I as an individual, sitting on that chair, need to earn that respect. I can't be saying you need to respect me because I'm sitting on this chair," he added.

On the eve of the IPL 2024 opener, MS Dhoni stepped down as CSK captain, handing over the leadership baton to Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Despite struggling with a calf injury, Dhoni’s performance this season was remarkable as he aggregated 161 runs at an average of 53.66 and a staggering strike rate of 220.54 across 11 innings.

In a battle for the final IPL 2024 playoffs spot, CSK had to avoid an 18-run defeat against RCB at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday (May 18) but the defending champions ended up losing the match by 27 runs.

Dhoni fought hard in the death overs and returned with a cameo of 13-ball 25 but he failed to take his team over the line.