Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 13 (ANI): Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting coach Michael Hussey praised former captain and legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni, saying that he has got a great feel to create a winning environment and backs players to the hilt.
MI and CSK will battle in a high-stakes ‘El Clasico’ of the IPL at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. CSK is in the third spot, with three wins and two losses, giving them six points. They had registered a win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their last game. On the other hand, MI is also picking up momentum, winning two games after three losses and are placed at the seventh spot. They had hammered Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their previous game.
Speaking at spin veteran Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube channel, Hussey said that Dhoni creates champion teams and sets them up well for long-term success by trusting his players and assigning them roles.
“I think he has got a great feel for what it takes to create a winning environment and put a team together that will, in the long term, have success. Again, there is that trust in the players…We have hardly changed the team over the years. There has been that continuity. He looks for good players to play that particular role, but he also looks for good people. And once he has got those good, he will really back them to the hilt,” told Hussey.
He gave the example of former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, who had only 250 runs in 24 matches with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2016-2017 seasons, but he came good in CSK during the 2018 season. He scored 555 runs in 15 innings at an average of almost 40, with two centuries and two fifties, smashing a century in the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Watson also took six wickets that season.
With CSK from 2018-20, Watson scored 1,252 runs in 43 matches at an average of 30.54 and a strike rate of over 136, with two centuries and seven fifties. His best score was 117*.
“Another good example is Shane Watson, For us (Australia) he had a season where he could not score runs. But Dhoni just said ‘No, we are sticking with him, he will come good’. And sure enough, he came good when we made the playoffs. He made two big scores and we fell one run short of winning the title that year.” added Hussey.
Hussey said that Dhoni is able to take pressure off players, particularly young Indian players.
“He has got an amazing perspective on the game; the way he treats people and players is very special. You feel like you are backed, you are trusted and you are loved very much,” reflected the 48-year-old.
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni(w), Ajinkya Rahane, Sameer Rizvi, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mustafizur Rahman, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Moeen Ali, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Mukesh Choudhary, Devon Conway, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Matheesha Pathirana, Aravelly Avanish
Mumbai Indians Squad: Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Tilak Varma, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Shreyas Gopal, Jasprit Bumrah, Gerald Coetzee, Akash Madhwal, Dewald Brevis, Naman Dhir, Nehal Wadhera, Harvik Desai, Piyush Chawla, Kwena Maphaka, Shams Mulani, Luke Wood, Arjun Tendulkar, Kumar Kartikeya, Shivalik Sharma, Nuwan Thushara, Anshul Kamboj. (ANI)
