In light of the India-New Zealand T20 Cricket World Cup encounter today in Nagpur, it’s probably a good time to take a look at MS Dhoni’s leadership style, and why it worked so well for the Indian cricket team. This year, we go into the T20 World Cup as the number one team on the table, and this is an achievement, especially since India never really gave that much attention to the T20 format when it debuted and when the first World Cup was held in 2007.
The Indian cricket team has always been on the precipice of being great; the world got a glimpse of that when India won the World Cup in 1983. Great captains have come and gone since, and the words ‘untapped potential’ were thrown around a lot. One thing that most captains lacked was what Saurav Ganguly, among the team’s best captains, brought to the table — aggression. But there were several other negative factors and he, too, fell by the wayside.
After him, the Indian cricket team had a captain a year; no one wanted to step up to the plate. Rahul Dravid and even Anil Kumble for a while, felt the pressure of the job affecting their performance as players.
Taking risks
That brings us to the first thing one can learn from MS Dhoni — he isn’t afraid to take risks. Initially, critics and fans alike criticised the Indian captain when many of his risks failed to bear fruit, but eventually, these risks became more calculated and started being called ‘tactics’. It is important to take an unconventional approach to solving a problem, as it allows one to step back and look at the bigger picture.
When Dhoni took over as ODI and T20 captain in 2007, the team was in a state of transition; the seniors were retiring one after the other, and the young ‘uns were taking over, with some making it to the senior squad after a successful Under-19 World Cup bid (under the leadership of the fiery Virat Kohli). Naturally, it took the new players a while to adjust to the demands of the game and they didn’t always perform. But this didn’t stop Dhoni from picking the one showing promise time and again.
Showing faith in your team members, as Dhoni did with the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, will give them a boost, leading to better performance. Ashwin was a find of the first season of the Indian Premier League. Since then, Ashwin and Jadeja almost always feature in Dhoni’s team. Despite slumps in their performance, both the players made comebacks into the national team. Today, Ashwin is Dhoni’s go-to man.
There’s another thing that leaders can learn from Dhoni and that is to delegate. Everyone on the team knows their job, Dhoni has made sure of it. And it works in such a way that, even in his absence the team carries on, as was the case when Suresh Raina captained the team during the 2011 tour in West Indies.
Leading from the front
The role of the Indian cricket team’s captain can be dicey — the fans are fickle, the press is quick to judge and the management is a whole other can of worms. Dhoni shares a good rapport with the Indian media, having learned to deal with them the hard way. Always one to diffuse the tension in the usually-tense post-match press conferences, Dhoni is known for his long-winding sentences, which seem to have no punctuation. In fact, it has become something of a joke among fans and experts of the game.
In contrast, MS (as he is also called) does not refrain from hitting back at the media and ‘experts’ when they aren’t being fair. This is the next thing to learn from him — don’t let pressure get to you. When you are the leader, your team looks to you to give them direction, which you can’t do if you crack under the pressure.
Experience Speaks
Dhoni’s leadership is something Indian cricket isn’t used to, it’s unconventional. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t listen to experience. Seniors on the team have often praised the freedom he gives them to play their game and his ability to listen to the spot of advice they may give him.
Last but not least, give the team its due. After winning the World Cup in 2011, when he was handed the trophy, Dhoni promptly called everyone to dais and took a step back, letting the team bask in their win. That’s an excellent quality for a leader to have; it gives the team members a feeling of appreciation and that will always lead to better performance.
In no way is MS Dhoni perfect. But in all likelihood, he’s the best captain the Indian cricket team has had so far. Last year, he surprised everyone by announcing his retirement from Test cricket during a series in Australia, which had been mired in controversy no thanks to Dhoni’s record overseas. That post has now been taken over by immensely talented Virat Kohli. That’s another thing you can learn from MSD — knowing when to quit.