MS Dhoni was a mixture of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid: Lalchand Rajput

Lalchand Rajput, the former Indian coach, believes that MS Dhoni is a fusion of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Dhoni took over as the national team’s skipper at a time when India were reeling from a poor show in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. His maiden assignment as India’s skipper was in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa and he led the Men in Blue to glory in the tournament.

From there on, he didn’t look back and went on to become one of India’s greatest captains. Rajput was of the opinion that Dhoni used to be calm and had qualities to outsmart opponents with his proactive thinking. Rajput said that like Ganguly, even Dhoni used to show confidence in his players, giving them enough chances to show their mettle at the highest level.

MS Dhoni will never show any evasive action on the ground, says Rajput

“To be very honest Dhoni was very very calm and used to think two steps ahead of the opponent and he was always a thinking captain. He was a mixture of Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Ganguly used to give players the confidence and he was the one who changed the mentality of the Indian team,” Rajput was quoted as saying to Sportskeeda.

“So, I think that carried forward with Dhoni because even he gave opportunities to players and if he saw potential in someone he used to give him ample opportunities. Dhoni will never show any evasive action on the ground and that helped the players in giving their best,” Rajput added.

Ganguly was appointed as India’s captain when Indian cricket was marred with match-fixing scandals. However, he changed the face of their cricket, beating Steve Waugh’s Australia at home and also taking India to the final of the 2003 World Cup against the Aussies in Johannesburg.

He had an ugly spat with Greg Chappell and it led to his eviction from the team. But he made a comeback and played the 2007 World Cup. Dravid, on the other hand, had his fair share of success, but the World Cup campaign where India were knocked out after the group stage didn’t help his cause.