MS Dhoni as a captain has been so phenomenal that people often try to name his successor at each stage. Just like many others, Suresh Raina has also come out with a name who he touts as the next Dhoni. Raina’s choice is none other than India’s opening batsmen Rohit Sharma.
Raina strongly believes in Rohit’s ability to captain the Indian side in future as he’s already been the most successful captain in the history of IPL. On the other hand, he’s guided India to the Asia cup and Nidahas trophy victories in 2018.
Appearing on ‘The Super Over Podcast’ recently, Suresh Raina mentioned how Rohit as a captain is calm, likes to listen and gives confidence to the players.
Rohit Sharma is the next MS Dhoni – Suresh Raina
“I would say Rohit is the next MS Dhoni for the Indian cricket team,” Suresh Raina said. “I have seen him, he is calm, he likes to listen, he likes to give confidence to the players and on top of that, he likes to lead from the front.
When the captain leads from the front and at the same time, he gives respect to the dressing room atmosphere, you know you have it all.”, Raina said on The Super Over Podcast.
Talking about Rohit Sharma’s presence on the field as captain, Suresh Raina said that several players enjoy the intensity Rohit brings in the game while captaining. He talked about how Rohit is good at making players around him comfortable just like how MS Dhoni did which makes him a good captain.
“Around him, players enjoy the intensity, they enjoy his aura. I think when you enjoy the aura of a player, you like to be positive and I think that is what he is good at,” Raina said.
Furthermore, he compared Rohit Sharma to his CSK skipper MS Dhoni under whom Raina has played his majority matches. The veteran batsman finds both of them similar as both of them like to listen since just by listening captains tend to solve many problems.
“He is one of the top-most, after MS Dhoni, who was brilliant. He has won more [IPL] trophies than MS, but I would say they both are very similar. Both of them, as a captain, like to listen. When your captain is listening, you can solve a lot of problems, you can solve the mental problems of the players. So in my book, they both are wonderful,” concluded Raina.