Eoin Morgan exposes Ben Stokes' revelation of playing under MS Dhoni's leadership

Former England captain Eoin Morgan has revealed his ex-teammate Ben Stokes loved playing with MS Dhoni in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The current England Test captain and the former India captain played together in the IPL for the first time in 2017 when they plied their trades for now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant.

In his maiden IPL season, Stokes enjoyed a stellar campaign, scoring 316 runs and taking 12 wickets as Pune qualified for the final. In 2018, he moved to Rajasthan Royals before finally reuniting with MS Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings in 2023. The Chennai-based outfit spent a staggering Rs 16.25 crores to secure the England star’s services.

However, he could not justify the big price tag as injury hampered his season. Ben Stokes could play only two games and scored 15 runs. Even though Stokes has spent less than two seasons with MS Dhoni in the IPL, Eoin Morgan believes his compatriot has learned a lot from the India great.

“Ben Stokes, who has an incredible amount of self-belief, loved playing under MS Dhoni. He did it at Pune for a couple of years and obviously shared the dressing room with him last year. They absolutely love wearing that yellow shirt,” said Morgan on Jio Cinema.

“They absolutely love it, to be honest. They talk about the same characteristics. When you’re talking about being led brilliantly, you always say, ‘Will the team follow him?’ When it’s MS Dhoni, you never question that. He leaves an indelible mark on every player. He instils the belief that they have the ability to go out and play with the pride that’s associated with CSK, and lets them know that everybody is backing them,” he added.

Ben Stokes on playing with MS Dhoni:

In the past, Ben Stokes had himself expressed his admiration over playing with MS Dhoni. Having enjoyed a fine run as a Test captain so far, Stokes has reiterated that he learned a lot about leadership from Dhoni.

“I think they both have an incredible understanding of that. But one thing me and Baz always try to do, and what MS and Flem do is whatever decision they make around selection or whatever decision they have to make very quickly, it’s always based around what’s best for the team. That’s something me and Baz always try and live by when we make decisions,” Stokes had said.

For the upcoming season, Dhoni will continue to lead CSK while Stokes will not participate in IPL 2024. After being released by the Chennai-based outfit, Stokes pulled out of the upcoming season in order to manage his workload.