Former Aussie skipper George Bailey reveals something unique about MS Dhoni

We all know how cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni remains on the ground even in moments of excitement. One of India’s greatest captains ever, the wicket-keeper-batsman is hardly seen expressing his emotions when he is on the ground and leading his team from front. How does the man keep such steel nerves? Well, former Australian captain George Bailey has an insight.

Bailey, the 36-year-old Tasmanian batsman was once a colleague of Dhoni in Chennai Super Kings (CSK) where he got to decode the captain closely. In a video posted by cricket.com.au, Bailey said the former Indian skipper would try to ease the side’s youngsters by smoking ‘hookah’ with them during the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League. Dhoni made a key contribution with the bat in this year’s IPL and led the Super Kings to their third trophy after remaining suspended for two years.

“He likes smoking a bit of the sheesha or the hookah. So, he quite often would set that up in his room, and it was very much open door policy. You would go in and quite often find a lot of younger players there. For India or lot of other cricket teams, it can be hierarchical, but he certainly broke that down,” said Bailey, who has played five Tests, 90 ODIs and 30 T20Is for India.

However, it is not only during domestic games that Dhoni tried to make the environment friendly for the youngsters to get easier and the team bonding gets cemented more.

Bailey overwhelmed by MSD’s calmness

Bailey also revealed how Dhoni made it tricky for his team’s bowlers to prepare their game strategy and that the former India captain’s calmness that leaves a lasting impression on the side, “The greatest thing I took from MS was just his ability to impact the team with his calmness. With the chaos, and whatever is happening in the game numerous times, you see him being so calm behind the wickets.”

Dhoni is India’s most successful captain in all three formats of the game so far and recently led India in his record 200th ODI in Asia Cup against Afghanistan. The game, however, ended in a tie.

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