Indian cricket has been very fortunate to witness two of the greatest skippers – Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni lead the team. The cricket in the country has only attained greater heights under their leadership. Recently, former India fast bowler Zaheer Khan, who has played under both of them, opened up on the captaincy traits of Ganguly and Dhoni.
The Prince of Kolkata took over the reins of the Indian cricket, where they hit the rock bottom; marred with match-fixing allegations. From there, Sourav Ganguly took brought a renaissance in Indian cricket. From beating Australia at Eden Gardens to taking the Men in Blues in the finals of the 2003 ICC World Cup – Ganguly brought new laurels to the country.
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Recently, legendary fast bowler Zaheer Khan joined a candid chat with presenter Gaurav Kapoor amid the prevailing lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic. During the conversation, the left-arm pacer shared his experience of playing under both Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni. Speaking about ‘Dada’; as Ganguly is widely known, Zaheer said that the former gave adequate backup to the youngsters to shine at the biggest stage.
“That’s (support from Ganguly) what you need at that stage of your career. When you start at the international level, you need all the support. Then it is up to you as to how you shape up your career. But that initial support is extremely vital,” Zaheer said.
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Later on, when MS Dhoni took over the baton in 2007, he took forward Indian cricket in the direction; Sourav Ganguly intended. The wicket-keeper batsman from Jharkhand took India to the No. 1 Test rank before winning three ICC titles to become the only captain in the world to record the feat. Speaking on Dhoni, Zaheer Khan expressed that the former nurtured the talents well ensuring a smooth transition in the team.
“When MS got the team, there were a lot of experienced players in the side, so he did not have to do too much to get them up to speed. However, once they started retiring, he then had to nurture the young match. He had spent a similar kind of role and done similar things to what Dada (Ganguly) did with the young crop. This is the quality of the leader to take the team forward,” Zaheer concluded.