"He was different"- Sanjay Manjrekar explains the reason behind MS Dhoni's success as captain

India won three ICC white-ball titles under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has lauded MS Dhoni for his leadership throughout his stint as an Indian captain. He pointed out how the batter single-handedly raised the bar for the team during the ICC T20 World Cup 2007. 

There’s no doubt that MS Dhoni has been the greatest captain to have led the Indian Cricket Team in white-ball formats. He took over the leadership of the side in the ICC T20 World Cup 2007 and made an immediate impact, guiding the side to the title win. 

What was amazing was that MS Dhoni, who himself was young, led a very inexperienced team. Under his leadership, they played a brilliant brand of cricket and defeated Pakistan in the final of the inaugural edition of the ICC T20 World Cup, which saw S Sreesanth taking a famous catch to dismiss Mishbah-Ul-Haq. 

He proved his worth yet again as under him India won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. And then he guided India to a win in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. This again came with the young team, which was under transition. 

I thought he single-handedly raised the bar for the team – Sanjay Manjrekar on MS Dhoni

While lauding MS Dhoni, Sanjay Manjrekar cited the example of how the keeper-batter took India to win the ICC T20 World Cup in 2007. 

“I would rank Imran Khan from the days gone by, and after that, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, as to what he was able to do as a captain. I thought he single-handedly raised the bar for the team and got even, maybe an average team sometimes, an inexperienced team, for example, in that 2007 T20 World Cup to go and win titles,” Manjrekar said on Stalin Mathias’ YouTube channel. 

Sanjay Manjrekar added that MS Dhoni brought a different version of him when he the team played big events. While elaborating on the same point, he said: 

“And I think he was different when it came to performances on the big stage. He played the final just like he would play one of the earlier league matches. I think the moment, just that whole stay that you have for the big finals, can get to a lot of players and definitely gets to a few captains as well. MS was different in that regard.” 

MS Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2020. However, he is still active in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

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