Anyone can do captaincy but Dhoni is a true leader, says Ashish Nehra

Ashish Nehra has praised MS Dhoni’s leadership skills, saying that the former Indian captain is a true leader.

The wicket-keeper batsman, who made his international debut back in late 2004, showed his captaincy skills in the first-ever ICC World T20 in 2007. India’s winning campaign in that tournament was just the beginning of a journey named the “Dhoni Era”.

The Ranchi local was named the captain of India in all three formats, with Dhoni scripting brilliant India victories in the future years. The Indian team was also victorious in the 2011 ODI World Cup as well as the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy under the leadership of Dhoni. For his brilliance on the field, Dhoni’s former team-mate Ashish Nehra names him a ‘true leader’.

Alongside successes in the limited-overs format, India also reached the summit of Test rankings for the first time in history in 2009, under the captaincy of Dhoni. Along with his leadership, his batting and wicket-keeping provided a lot of workload on him, but it was amazingly managed by him.

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Writing a column for Outlook Magazine, the former left-arm pacer praised MS Dhoni’s leadership attributes, and claimed that he was indeed a true leader. Nehra also acknowledged on how the now 37-year-old took on the captaincy burden from the retired Anil Kumble, and managed to outperform his predecessor.

“Anyone can do captaincy, but Dhoni is a true leader. He proved that in 2007, by leading the team to victory in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. That kind of success can sway others, not him. Remember, he was comple­tely new to captaincy—he was handed the reins when he was nowhere in the picture. And there were big shoes to fill in: Rahul Dravid was captain on India’s previous tour to England,” the 39-year-old wrote.

Furthermore, Ashish Nehra also acknowledged the way MS Dhoni did not change his approach towards Indian cricket after the disaster in England and Australia in the Test matches, following India’s World Cup win in the same year. He also claimed that the appointment of Dhoni as team captain was the turning point for India’s cricket.

“Dhoni as skipper was a huge turning point for Indian cricket as well. He knew how to handle pressure, in his own way. When ­India lost a back-to-back Test series to England, 0-4, and to Australia by the same margin in 2011, after winning the World Cup at home, he didn’t buckle or change as a person,” the former left-arm pacer revealed.