MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev On Same Page But Sourav Ganguly Best India Captain: Maninder Singh

India have been fortunate to see some of the finest captains including the likes of MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev and Sourav Ganguly. Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni led India to World Cup triumphs, in fact under his captaincy the national team has won almost every marquee ICC tournaments. However, comparison are inevitable, and Maninder Singh believes Sourav Ganguly was the best Indian captain.

Maninder Singh represented India in 35 Tests and 49 ODIs between 1982 and 1993 and believes that Dhoni was lucky on a couple of occasions. He also said that Dev and Dhoni are on the same page as far as captaincy is concerned but he personally loved Ganguly a lot more as a captain.

“Dhoni was lucky that Kapil Dev won us the World Cup in 1983 then Dhoni was lucky that before him it was Sourav Ganguly, who made us believe that we can beat any team and in any conditions, so Dhoni got that,” Maninder told Hindustan Times.

“When Kapil Dev was the captain that belief was missing. Otherwise, the positivity, the calmness, the captaincy instincts of these two is the same. For me, Kapil and Dhoni are on the same page. If Kapil had somebody else who had won us the world cup before him, then he could also have been a greater captain,” he said.

“I loved Ganguly’s captaincy. See what all he has given Indian cricket He was a great judge of talent. He pulled out Yuvraj from the dumps, he got back Harbhajan Singh when he was dropped,” he said.

Ganguly will always be known for re-branding the style of cricket India played. He took over the captaincy reigns in a controversial situation and helped the national team grow with his ‘never say die spirit’.

He was an established batsman in the top-order but Ganguly will be celebrated for his captaincy skills which overshadowed his batting prowess. He knew how to back players, give them direction and pick up young talents and place them at the right position. Ganguly was not only the pioneer for the aggressive brand of cricket in India but also for shaping careers of a lot of Indian cricketers.