Lalchand Rajput Rates MS Dhoni As The Blend of Rahul Dravid And Sourav Ganguly

Former Indian coach Lalchand Rajput has made an interesting statement about MS Dhoni, the captain. According to Lalchand Rajput, MS Dhoni was the mixture of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. The 38-year-old took over the reins as India’s skipper after their disappointing 2007 World Cup campaign in the West Indies and straight away showed signs of revival.

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MS Dhoni’s first assignment was the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa, which the men in blue won by beating Pakistan narrowly in the final. From there on, success followed for the keeper-batsman. He guided India to the top of the Test rankings while also winning the 50-over World Cup in 2011 and Champions Trophy in 2013.

As far as Sourav Ganguly goes, he was appointed skipper after Sachin Tendulkar voluntarily stepped down in 1999 after a disastrous tour of Australia. The Prince of Kolkata guided India to victory against mighty Australia in 2001 and taking his side to the final of the 2003 World Cup. Ganguly guided India to 21 Test victories out of 49 Tests, suffering 13 losses.

Rahul Dravid became captain after Greg Chappell was installed as the coach of India. While Dravid had his share of success, the chastening loss in the 2007 World Cup was a black mark on his captaincy career. The 2007 Test series win in England after 21 years was undoubtedly the highlight.

To be very honest MS Dhoni was very very calm: Lalchand Rajput

The present Zimbabwe coach conceded that MS Dhoni always used to be two steps ahead of the opposition and was very calm in his approach. Rajput went on to state that Dhoni backed players and gave them ample opportunities to succeed while not appearing authoritative to his teammates.

“To be very honest Dhoni was very very calm and used to think two steps ahead of the opponent and he was always a thinking captain. He was a mixture of Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Ganguly used to give players the confidence and he was the one who changed the mentality of the Indian team.

So, I think that carried forward with Dhoni because even he gave opportunities to players and if he saw potential in someone he used to give him ample opportunities. Dhoni will never show any evasive action on the ground and that helped the players in giving their best.” the 58-year old Lalchand Rajput told Sportskeeda.

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