MS Dhoni kicked away as Matthew Hayden picks this Australia legend as his best captain

MS Dhoni has led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) since their debut season in 2008. Led by MS Dhoni, CSK has been quite a successful team with five IPL trophies and 10 appearances in the final across 14 seasons. However, former CSK member Matthew Hayden has named another Australia legend as the best-ever captain he has played under.

Matthew Hayden was part of the Chennai Super Kings in the initial seasons and played under the leadership of MS Dhoni. The former Australia opener also won the IPL title in 2010 with CSK before bidding goodbye to the league.

Hayden played 32 games for CSK and scored 1107 runs at an average of 36.90. He also shattered 8 half-centuries with a strike rate of 137.52 across his IPL career. His top knock was 93 runs. In the 2009 season, Hayden slammed the most 572 runs to win the orange cap.

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Matthew Hayden picks Ricky Ponting as his best captain

During a chat with ESPN Cricinfo, Matthew Hayden was asked who is the best captain he has ever played with. Interestingly, Hayden skipped MS Dhoni and named Ricky Ponting as the best-ever captain for him.

“Ricky Ponting has to be there, right? Two World Cups. MS Dhoni, obviously the IPL, but Ponting won World Cups, Ashes series, and Border-Gavaskar Trophies”, Hayden said.

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting led Australia to two back-to-back ODI World Cup trophies in 2003 and 2007. Hayden was part of the team in both tournaments and was also the highest run-scorer in the 2007 World Cup.

Ponting also led Mumbai Indians in IPL in the past but could not win any IPL trophy. He led the Mumbai Indians in the 2013 season in the first six games. Later, Rohit Sharma led the team to their first-ever trophy in the same season. With Rohit Sharma, Dhoni is the joint-most successful captain with five IPL trophies for CSK.

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I just feel that MS Dhoni can also be a coach: Matthew Hayden 

Last month, Hayden termed MS Dhoni as the better captain than Rohit Sharma in IPL on Star Sports. Hayden reckoned Dhoni can also be a good coach for CSK in the future.

“I think it’s an obvious choice, it’s not a debate over here, it’s going to be unanimous amongst the entire Indian community. Of course, Rohit Sharma, the Hitman, is such an incredible leader as well, so it’s a tough choice.

But I’m going to be bold and I’m going to pick Dhoni as a Captain and Coach as well. He started in 2008, Shane Warne was captain and coach, and he took the franchise, the double R’s, to a title that year, and I just feel that MS Dhoni can also be a coach,” Hayden said.

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Meanwhile, Dhoni is not the captain of CSK in IPL 2024. He has handed over the captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad in the league. CSK are the defending champions of IPL 2024, who won the last season by defeating Gujarat Titans in the final.