Former South African captain and Chennai Super Kings’ batsman Faf du Plessis has seen how MS Dhoni works quite closely both as an opponent and as a teammate and is in the best position to analyze what makes the three-time IPL winning captain ticks and what are his strengths.
Du Plessis, who was recently removed as captain of the South African team, joined the CSK franchise in 2011 and since then has been part of the franchise’s successful journey.
Talking about how good a captain Dhoni is, during a chat with Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal, he said, "He reads the other player really well and he uses that to make instinctive decisions on the field. He's got an incredible gut feeling on the game and I think that's his biggest strength."
Bringing international captains into CSK camp, a Dhoni masterstroke: Faf du Plessis
Du Plessis admitted that watching Dhoni work as a captain, changed his perception of what a captain should be like. He said, "It was amazing for me to see how different MS was as a captain. I used to think a captain must speak all the time in team meetings etc but MS was completely different. He doesn't believe a lot in team meetings. He's a very instinctive captain he's got such a good cricket brain that he relies on it to make the right decisions on the field.”
Calling Dhoni the best finisher he has played with, Du Plessis said no one can emulate what the dasher from Ranchi can do with the bat.
Never got the courage to ask Dhoni why I was dropped from Team India: Manoj Tiwary
"He's extremely calm. I haven't played with someone who is a better finisher than him. It's just remarkable to watch him from the side of the field. If someone else tries to do it like him they won't be able to. He's just so unique like he times the ball so late he's got an incredible calmness. He knows his game and he picks a bowler and goes for it," Du Plessis explained.
Talking about his relationship with Dhoni and CSK coach Stephen Fleming and his journey so far in CSK, Du Plessis said, "I'm lucky to have started my journey there at CSK because I have really learned a lot from a leadership point of view. I tried to learn as much as possible from Dhoni and Stephen Fleming because both are great captains.”
(PTI inputs)
