The Best Cricket Captain Ever- India’s Captain Cool.
The role of the captain in cricket is vital and much more demanding than other sports. A cricket captain not only needs to motivate and inspire the team, he is also responsible for many of the decisions which take place during a game. One of the main qualities that make a great cricket captain is leadership. The captain of the team must be comfortable in organising groups of people and cannot be afraid to make a decision as and when required. It is his job to make the tough calls and live with the consequences. Listening to player concerns and ideas, analysing them and acting where appropriate is a quality, which makes a great cricket captain.
Keeping calm under pressure is a must for a good cricket captain. If players see their captain losing control on the field or in the dressing room, they will begin to feel uncomfortable. Players look towards a cricket captain as someone who has a cool temperament and a person they can turn to at crucial times of a match.
According to me, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the best captain a cricket team has ever had. Other than the coolest captain, Dhoni is many things to Indian cricket. The batsman who went from a swashbuckling young dasher to mature master-finisher. The wicket-keeper who made stumpings cool and performed no-look run-outs for fun. The superstar who normalised the fact that superstar cricketers can, indeed, come from any corner of the country. Given that he is from an underprivileged background from the cricket-poor state of Jharkhand and has no “Godfathers” in the BCCI, his achievements are truly mind-boggling. Dhoni is many things, but most importantly, he is India’s Captain Cool.
No cricketer has captained India in more international matches than Dhoni. No cricketer has won more matches for India as captain in international cricket than Dhoni. No other captain in the game has, indeed, won all three major ICC trophies in white-ball cricket. Dhoni came across as a street-smart cricketer who read the game brilliantly and that translated into his captaincy effortlessly.
As news has it, Dhoni retired from international cricket in August 2020. However, here are a few reasons why the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman stood out.
He is a self-aware man. Not only is he a hard-hitting batsman but also a promising wicketkeeper. An aggressive batsman but the calmest captain. It takes cricketing intelligence, an awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses, and loads of hard work to make such a transition.
He is not insecure. Fairly early in his career, he chose to sit out an ODI series being played in Sri Lanka. A captain choosing to sit out was an extraordinary act of courage. He came back refreshed and has not looked back ever since. This self-confidence allows him to deal with situations with equality and treat all his team members fairly.
He is a hard worker. His technique, both as a wicketkeeper and as a batsman is suspect. As a wicket-keeper, he has grown to a point where his stumpings are the best exhibition of wicket-keeping that one has seen. On the batting front, he makes up with grit what he lacks in technique and is the quickest runner between the wickets. It is a testament to his stamina. He leads from the front and confronts his weaknesses. His way gives him the moral heft to challenge his players to do better.
He is a genuine star. He is remarkably grounded, never patronizing nor talking down to people, when he interacts with the media. I think that his perspective, that at the end of the day cricket is just a game, allows him to deal with victories and disappointment with a fair degree of compassion.
Dhoni always inspired the youngsters and motivated them that winning is possible even without getting aggressive and the cricketing world will surely miss his calmness on the field in the years to come. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is one of the best things to happen to the 21st century cricket lovers and in his tenure as a captain, he definitely kept all promises that he made.
-Abigail Gretel Soares