The Aussie believes that the Indian star's X-factor is being selfless.
Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden has heaped plaudits on an Indian legend and opined that he can captain the Australian national team. Hayden labelled the India star as one of the most selfless cricketers in the business and that his aura is big enough to encapsulate any dressing room he walks into.
Interestingly, Hayden too has played under the India star’s captaincy. The dynamic left-hander, during his stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL), played under the leadership of MS Dhoni at the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and believes that Dhoni’s X-factor is putting the team first.
“Dhoni is exactly what I was saying before. He can easily sit in an Australian dressing room and easily captain it because he believes that he is not bigger than anyone else. He’ll collect bags, he’ll throw cricket balls. He’s just a very humble individual. And he works hard at the team and not on promoting MS Dhoni,” Hayden told Sports Vikatan.
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“You’ll never hear him telling people how great he is or what he’s achieved. That is MS Dhoni’s X-factor. You look at Australia and go ’25 million people. How did they win the World Cup against us?’ MS Dhoni… he just finds a way to galvanise people together and does it in a way that is nothing about ego, not about self-promotion,” Hayden said.
Notably, the Indian team’s last ICC title came under Dhoni’s captaincy, securing the Champions Trophy in 2013. The Men in Blue achieved a trio of victories by winning the T20 World Cup in 2007, the ODI World Cup in 2011, and the Champions Trophy, all under Dhoni’s captaincy.
Although the wicketkeeper-batter retired from international cricket in 2020, he still plays in the IPL.
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