Former Australia captain and batting legend Ricky Ponting believes that there was a stark difference in leadership skills between him and former India captain MS Dhoni. Ponting, during his time as Australia skipper, led his team to back-to-back ODI World Cup wins. Dhoni, on the other hand, went on to become the only captain to win all three ICC trophies – the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Ponting explains why Dhoni was a great leader and points out one thing that he himself could not do as leader that Dhoni could.
“He [MS Dhoni] never seems to let his emotions get the better of him, which is a really good trait in a leader — as hard as I tried when I was on the field, I could never quite stay in complete control of my emotions.” Ricky Ponting told news.com.au.
“Indian teams always seemed to lift when he was captain. He always seemed to have this knack to be able to get the best out of his players. You knew that he had things under control, and his teammates loved that about him,” the former Aussie cricketer further said.
“I spend a lot of time in India now, so I know how revered he is in that part of the world. Even when you travel around the world and you listen to cricket fans, they talk about Dhoni and his leadership and how calm he seems to be under pressure on the field,” he further added.
Ponting, who will lead Delhi Capitals as the head coach in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League which kicks off from September 19th, said that he is eager to face off against Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings in the tournament.
“Chennai have been one of the most consistently strong and competitive teams in the IPL, and a lot of that’s got to come down to his [MS Dhoni’s] leadership as well. I’m looking forward to coaching against him now and making sure he doesn’t win any game off his own bat when Chennai play the Delhi Capitals,” Ponting signed off.
