Opinion

MS Dhoni is a magician, can make treasure out of someone else’s trash: Matthew Hayden

Written by Sumit Seth

As a Chennai Super Kings player in the years gone by, Matthew Hayden has seen from up close how MS Dhoni has worked his magic around year after year to turn CSK into a champion team; and the former Australia batter believes what Dhoni has already done for CSK makes it “almost irrelevant” whether he plays another season of the Indian Premier League or not.

Dhoni’s tactical genius has played a big part in CSK reaching their 10th IPL final. He did not have the best of bowling attacks at his disposal at the start of the tournament but he has been able to bring the best out of it.

How he has used Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube in the batting department has also been praised widely.

Dhoni, who has played with a knee injury throughout the tournament, has given himself 8-9 months to decide on his playing future. Hayden, however, feels the World Cup winning captain will not be around for the next IPL.

“MS is a magician. He takes someone else’s trash and makes them treasure. He is a very skilful and positive captain. He said something really interesting which I thought summed up not only his humility and his truth around cricket where he is represented and that is in Tamil Nadu Cricket Association,” Hayden told PTI.

“The alignment between that association and the franchise, how strong that is in terms of building that process. To me that is MS. There is a systematic way of going through things and working through them. He did that for India and he is doing it for Chennai Super kings.

About the author

Sumit Seth