Both Dhoni and Virat have different leadership styles: R Ashwin

Indian off-spinner R Ashwin has finally revealed the one thing most people have been having in their minds of late. Having played under both captains MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, R Ashwin has a very interesting yet contrasting opinion on both their leadership qualities. Ashwin recently became the fastest to 200 Test wickets following his exploits against New Zealand in the recently concluded Test series.

When asked about both approaches, the 30-year old revealed that both of them had different teams to deal with. While the likes of Ganguly, Tendulkar, and Dravid were a part of the Dhoni team, the new wave of players are the ones under the 27-year old. Ashwin also opened up on the aggressive nature of a player like Virat Kohli.

Ashwin believed, “Both of them (Dhoni and Kohli) have different teams for starters. The team that Dhoni was handling was a team full of seniors who knew what they had to do. There wasn’t a lot of driving that was needed. And Mahi’s style is very different to that of Virat’s. Whereas Virat is someone who, he always wants to do it. If you tell him this is going to be impossible, that’s like proper fodder for him to say chalo okay let me show you how it needs to be done.”

He added, “You don’t want to challenge Virat. He just loves any kind of challenge. That’s what you saw in Adelaide, that was one of the finest Test matches I’ve been a part of. I feel a little sad that I wasn’t playing in that game but my God, what a Test match it was to watch. Ever since I came into the Indian team and to go after a score like that on the final day in Adelaide was nothing but attitude, nothing but telling yourself and telling the team that boss we are going for it.”

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Speaking on Anil Kumble, Ashwin enthused, “Anil (Kumble) is a very intense person, to the extent that he’s far more intense than me. He tries to break things down for me. During the stint that he’s been with us, through West Indies and this tour (New Zealand series), he has always given me feedback. There have been times when he’s actually dissected my wickets and he’s told me what are the areas I need to be bowling.”

The wily cricketer revealed, “I don’t think you want to bring the whole team near the discussions that we have (laughs), and around team dinners and parties, where we are talking about cricket. It’s been a culture. I love dissecting and talking about cricket and I think I found allies in both of them. We can keep talking cricket 24×7.”

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