Sunil Gavaskar likened MS Dhoni's approach to captaincy with that of his former India skipper, Kapil Dev, under whom the nation won the 1983 World Cup, a feat it repeated 28 years later with Dhoni at the helm.
Throwing light on the two great cricketers' leadership style, Gavaskar, the batting legend, feels their way on the field and away from it was inspirational.
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"Both (Dhoni and Kapil) were very, very similar. Both had similar approaches to the game. They loved playing the game. Both of them loved being in the center of action and they wanted to achieve great things for their teams. In that way, both are very similar," Gavaskar said on India Today, as Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket this Saturday (August 15).
“Also again, coming from cities that were not cricket centric. I think it was fated that if India’s first-ever World Cup-winning captain was from a non-cricketing city, if one might call it that, non-cricketing city - Chandigarh, so also, the next World Cup-winning captain was going to be from a non-cricketing city like Ranchi. Both of them are similar on the field, they are very cool, seldom show their emotions and which makes it easy for their players."
“If a captain is a little more irritable at a catch being dropped or a misfield, then the players get even more nervous. And that’s where Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni scored. They just controlled their emotions so well, that the players did not feel affected at all and played their own game freely."
Apart from the 2011 World Cup glory, Dhoni's captaincy tenure saw him lead India's successful campaigns at the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy as well. Under him, the Indian side also reached the No.1 spot in the ICC Test rankings in 2009, a tag it retained for the best part of two years.
An unflappable character, Dhoni used his excellent composure and game-intelligence to magnificent effect while dealing with players, charting out plans and making decisions for the betterment for Indian cricket.
“Absolutely, there is no question about it (him being a legend). What he has achieved in cricket certainly makes him a legend," said Gavaskar. "The way he has captained India, the way he has groomed youngsters, the way he has groomed not just batsmen not just leaders, he has groomed somebody like a Virat kohli under him, look at the way he has groomed spinners."
“That certainly makes him a legend. Because his contribution has been beyond the field. He is somebody, when you talk about leaders in all walks of life, his name will always come up there," he added.
Gavaskar thinks Dhoni will have a slight edge over Kapil if he were to pick the captain for an all-time India XI.
“Yes, I think he will be very much a contender (for captaining all-time India XI). If you look at captaincy in one-day cricket for India, there would just be two guys who would come in the frame as far being captains, one is MS Dhoni and one is Kapil Dev," he said.
“I think these are the two contenders, because they have won the others might have had very good performances, won bilateral series but when it comes to winning World Cups, I think MS Dhoni has just a little edge over Kapil because he has not just won the 50-over World Cup but also the T20 World Cup. So I think he would be right up there," Gavaskar concluded.
