A tribute to the greatest leader - MS Dhoni

“A leader is said to be good when he/she knows exactly how to manage their troops individually and take up the responsibility to deliver when the chips are down”. Well this quote goes for leaders across the globe related to all fields. But as far as sports are concerned, we have witnessed some exceptional leadership skills by captains in any game from time to time and win matches for their countries or franchises. For me today, when I wonder who is the greatest leader of his/her time, the answer comes into my mind instantly and he is none other than our nation’s heartthrob and the current Indian cricket team captain, MS Dhoni. Dhoni has his unusual ways of dealing with things during a match but often escapes criticism as these ‘unusual or bizarre moves’ leads Team India towards victories.

MS Dhoni is known as a person who seldom shows any signs of panic or emotions on the field and that is why he is widely referred as a calm and composed cricketer. He is a person who is not afraid of losing even on the ‘finals of mega events’ and that is one of the rarest qualities in him. He knows that no team can keep winning each and every big tournament or not lose a single match. He goes into the match knowing ‘what all to do’ and what all ‘not to do’ and backs his plans. He believes in keeping things simple for his team mates and for himself.

A good leader is often regarded as a person who hates to lose but in case of Dhoni he stresses on victories but if on a given day his team is outplayed by any other team; he accepts defeat without any slight hesitation. He is unflappable on the cricket field. The calm nature of Dhoni works in his favour as often said by experts, “an agitated mind is the easiest to overcome whereas a calm and composed mind is the most dangerous”.

He doesn’t reveal much from his expressions on the field and chooses to concentrate on the game. He is not a person who gets easily distracted and keeps his nerves on pressure situations of a match. As mentioned earlier in the article, ‘a leader is effective if he knows his team mates/troops individually’, M.S. Dhoni is very well aware of the strength and weaknesses of his fellow players. He is always aware of the match situations and works his mind quickly according to the given situation.

Everyone remembers how Dhoni gave the last over of the final of the inaugural edition of the World T20 to Joginder Sharma instead of an experienced bowler in Harbhajan Singh already in the team with an over of his still left to bowl. What happened after that is needless to say as India won the World T20 and everyone praised his gut instinct and brave decision as a ‘master stroke’. In the presentation ceremony, Dhoni told that his decision to give the last over to Joginder Sharma was only because of the reason that Bhajji was not 100% sure of defending the runs and Sharma on the other hand had nothing to lose as he was not at all experienced. This shows his thinking is brave and he is not a ‘leader who only has good fortunes’.

Backing your team mates is one of the most essential elements for a captain in a team game. This is one of the best qualities to him as he backs his bowlers to set the field according to them, gives the leg spinners full confidence to bowl the flighted deliveries and allows a player like Sehwag or Dhawan to go after the opponent from the very first bowl.

I have often heard the commentators say that Dhoni doesn’t talk much with his players during a match as he gives them the belief to play according to their own tactics and gut feeling. Any player or an employee would want a full confidence of his boss or captain and this is the strongest point of Dhoni as a skipper. He enjoys his attention from his team mates and his team mates also are well aware of the fact that their captain is ready to back them up any time.

He isn’t even insecure of losing the limelight to a better player or an emerging talent in his team. He was ready to be out of India’ s celebration after winning the World Cup and gave Sachin Tendulkar the moment of cherishing his dream of lifting the trophy after such a long wait.

He asked Anil Kumble to receive the Border-Gavaskar trophy as he was the captain of the team before the start of the series but retired in the middle of it thereby giving the captaincy to Dhoni. He gave his captaincy to Sourav Ganguly on the field during the last few hours of the forth Test match in the series as Ganguly had also announced his retirement following the end of the series. He gave Virat Kohli a chance to score the winning runs in the semi finals of the recently concluded World T20 as a gesture of scoring so elegantly in such an important match.

He is street smart in certain cases as he knows what to speak at what time too. Before the ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY in England, the spot fixing controversy had erupted after the end of IPL-6. Everyone wanted answers from Dhoni but he chose to focus on the job of playing well rather than getting into ‘unnecessary talks’ before the tournament. He is very clever in insulating the team and himself from the outside world.

His ‘out of the box’ thinking has become very famous in tough match situations. He gave the 3^rd last over of the match to Ishant Sharma in the finals of the Champions Trophy when he had gone for plenty in his previous spell. But knowing that Ishant is a very different bowler in pressure situations and delivers even if he goes for some runs, he went with his instinct and the result is known to all of us.

Promoting himself over Yuvraj Singh in the all important finals of the World Cup 2011, he was literally playing with everyone’s heart and had taken the biggest risk of his cricketing life. But a player of his caliber and a player who has so much belief in himself and has the ability to score in pressure situations, Dhoni was not going to disappoint and that is what happened as Team India won the World Cup after 28 long years.

He not only inspires the cricketing world with his leadership skills but also promotes good leadership quality in a country like India where there is shortage of good leaders. A genuine risk taker, a match winner and a person with good cricketing sense and gut instinct, Dhoni has everything to make the world go mad about him.