Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has praised legendary captain MS Dhoni for his exceptional leadership. The analyst highlighted Dhoni’s talent for transforming an ordinary team into champions and applauded his calmness under pressure during finals, which helped him extract peak performances from his players.
Under Dhoni’s captaincy, India triumphed in the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy. Manjrekar shared his views on Stalin Mathias’ YouTube channel.
“9:01 (No.1 captain) – 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.”
“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,” he added.
“Felt so proud back then” – Sanjay Manjrekar hails former India captain’s 2014 Australia heroics
Sanjay Manjrekar also praised former India captain Virat Kohli for his fierce performances against Australia in the 2014 tour. Terming him a “mentality monster,” he applauded Kohli for scoring four centuries in the series. Manjrekar shared these thoughts in the same video:
“20:40- (Mentality monster) Virat Kohli, for me, is at the top. Indian cricket has had mentally strong greats, not always demonstrative. Their aggression from Sunil Gavaskar, Tendulkar, and Kapil Dev was subtle. Virat Kohli was one of the first I noticed, during the 2014 Australia trip after England, where he struggled. He scored four centuries, took on Australian players head-on verbally, and walked the talk.”
“And I thought it was great because Indian cricket didn’t have a leading figure like this. Pakistan had Javed Miandad, who took on Dennis Lillee and was also a great batter. That was nice to see. It’s not just about how you get runs, but how many you get, that’s the real value. Virat Kohli did both, and I remember feeling very proud at the time,” he added.
Get the latest cricket news here, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more such updates.
