‘He will really back them to the hilt’ – Michael Hussey reflects on MS Dhoni’s captaincy style

MS Dhoni and Mike Hussey. (Source -Twitter/X)

Former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has established himself as one of the greatest cricketers not only in India but in the entire world. The star wicketkeeper batter has led his IPL (Indian Premier League) side, Chennai Super Kings, to five IPL titles. 

Over the years, Dhoni has defined what it means to be the captain of a team. The veteran is well known for his leadership style and is regarded as one of the greatest leaders in the game, Dhoni has garnered praise from almost everyone that he has played with.

The same was the opinion of former Australian cricketer Michael Hussey. Being the current batting coach of CSK, Hussey came forward to heap praise on Dhoni and his art of creating champion teams.

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“I think he’s 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’s that trust in the players…We’ve hardly changed the team over the years. There’s 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,” Hussey said in a video on Ashwin’s YouTube channel. 

Another good example is Shane Watson: Hussey

Furthermore, Michael Hussey took the example of Shane Watson, reflecting on the season that the former all-rounder had with Australia, where he could not score any runs. However, it was MSD’s backing that helped Watson find his form. 

“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,” Hussey said.