Quite a few of his former and present teammates have claimed that Mahendra Singh Dhoni has this habit of keeping his personal room unlocked even during the night. The legendary India captain does this to make sure that he’s easily accessible to his teammates, who are always welcome to have a chat with him on any topic they feel like.
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Known for his man-management skills, the 41-year-old makes sure to find ways to not let the junior players in the team feel out of place. India and Chennai Super Kings bowling all-rounder Deepak Chahar, during one of the recent episodes of the chat show ‘Breakfast with Champions‘, had revealed how Dhoni would always have a seat beside one of the junior members in the CSK squad during team dinner for this very reason.
A few years ago, former Australia captain George Bailey would also attest to the homely behavior exhibited by the CSK skipper, particularly for the youngsters in the team.
MS Dhoni Broke The Ice With Young CSK Players Over Hookah Sessions
Bailey, who had played under Dhoni in the IPL for CSK (2009-2010) and later for Rising Pune Supergiants (2016), had once revealed how the latter used to have Hookah sessions in his personal room. As quoted by India Today in 2018, Bailey further disclosed how he would often find young players in his room chatting with him while smoking together.
“He likes smoking a bit of the sheesha or the hookah. So, he quite often would set that up in his room, and it was very much open-door policy. You would go in and quite often find a lot of younger players there. For India or lot of other cricket teams, it can be hierarchical, but he certainly broke that down.”
Describing the same as a great way to break down barriers, the current Aussie chief selector would reveal that the youngsters had the license to talk on any cricket or non-cricket related topics with experienced veteran skipper.
George Bailey Reveals The Greatest Thing He Learnt From MS Dhoni
Bailey further went on to add that Dhoni’s greatest ability was to stay calm in dire situations, which trickled down to the entire camp. Whenever he used to remain unfazed behind the stumps or with the bat in hand, one had the feeling that he had the situation under control.
Thus, even when things looked out sorts at time, his calm demeanor made everyone in the team believe he has something covered and everything was ok since he has a plan.
