As Team India continues to soar to new heights, the debate over who makes a better captain remains ongoing. Every new leader of the team would get compared to the previous ones, leading to unending discussions. Meanwhile, spin legend Harbhajan Singh has presented an interesting theory while picking up a better leader among MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.
Both Dhoni and Rohit have brought laurels to the country in their capacities. While Dhoni is the only captain to have won all three white-ball ICC titles, Rohit recently led the team to another T20 World Cup win to break the decade-long drought of ICC titles.
Speaking with Sports Yaari, Harbhajan explained why he named Rohit ahead of Dhoni as a better Indian skipper.
“I chose Rohit above Dhoni because Rohit is people’s captain. He goes up to the people and asks them what they want. His teammates connect with him very well. But Dhoni’s style was different,” Harbhajan Singh said.
“He didn’t talk to anyone. He wanted to convey his thoughts through his silence. It was his way of communicating with others,” he added.
Last month, Harbhajan had elaborated on the same point while speaking with former India Under-19 batter Taruwar Kohli in the latter’s podcast.
“Dhoni and Rohit are completely different leaders,” said Harbhajan.
“MS Dhoni will never go to a player and will ask him what field you want. He will let you learn from your mistakes,” he said.
Harbhajan further recalled an incident when he was playing for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL under Dhoni’s captaincy.
“I remember a game where I was fielding at the short fine leg and MS Dhoni was keeping. Shardul Thakur was bowling and the first ball Kane Williamson hit him down the ground for a boundary. The next ball, he bowled at the same length and Williamson played the same shot. I went to MS and asked him to tell Shardul to try and bowl different lengths. MS said to me ‘Paji If I tell him now, then he will never learn. Let him learn by himself.’ His thought process was that when Shardul got hit for boundaries, he would learn it quickly. That was MS Dhoni’s way,” recollected Harbhajan.
To explain Rohit’s captaincy style, Harbhajan said, “Rohit is very different. He will go and talk to each player. He is someone who will put his arm around your shoulder and tell you what he wants from you. He will give you that confidence that yes you can do it.”
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