“MS Dhoni is the greatest of all time, his incredible calmness under pressure fascinates me”: Tom Moody

MS Dhoni announced his international retirement on India’s 74th Independence Day and tributes have been pouring in for the former India captain. Dhoni brought the curtains down on a 16-year-long international career during which he grew to become one of the most prominent cricketers of this era.

Heaping rich praise on his captaincy, former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop said MS Dhoni’s international journey is a significant one in not India’s leadership chapter but also in world cricket.

Bishop, shedding light on what made Dhoni a special captain, said the former india captain’s confidence and self-belief was ‘unobtrusive’ and did not have any arrogance.

MS Dhoni ended his international career as one of the most successful captains in limited-overs cricket. The 39-year-old remains the only captain to win all 3 major ICC trophies — the T20 World Cup, the 50-over World Cup and the Champions Trophy.

“He was an every man’s leader to his team, authoritative but yet down-to-earth enough and approachable to the members under him,” Ian Bishop said while speaking in a video for the International Cricket Council.

“That whole sense of confidence and self-belief he had was unobtrusive in that you never felt any level of significant arrogance. I think wearing your leadership so lightly is a good thing. History will remember him kindly for that.

“As a cricket brain, the shorter the formats became, the more you saw the computer-like cricket brain behind many of his decisions. But yet, he was able to be instinctive. Just the marriage of that allows us to remember his international journey as a significant one in India’s chapter of leadership and world cricket as well.”
‘He is one of the greatest of all-time’
Meanwhile, former Australia cricketer and ex-Sunrisers Hyderabad coach, Tom Moody said MS Dhoni is one of the greatest captains of all-time. Moody said Dhoni’s way of leadership allowed his teammates to express themselves and have fun on the field.

“If I am looking at MS Dhoni as captain, he is one of the greatest of all time. The reason for this is his incredible calmness under pressure.

“This calmness is absorbed by his playing group and it allows them the freedom and allows the game to be played in the way it should be played — that’s to have fun and that’s very much the Dhoni way. Tactically, he is brilliant, he always appears to be one of those captains who is an over or two ahead of the game when it comes to decision making.

“He empowers his players to just play with their gut which is a central part of his being as a leader.”