MS Dhoni retirement | I told Sourav, this guy has got the gift of hitting the ball hard: Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar won the ODI World Cup under the leadership of MS Dhoni. In this interview, Tendulkar speaks about what made Dhoni great.

Sachin Tendulkar was the greatest batsman of his generation bar none, but he may have retired without having won cricket’s biggest trophy, the ODI World Cup, or seeing India as the No.1 Test team in the world. He got both under the leadership of MS Dhoni, who he had first seen as a long-haired rookie making his debut at 23 in Bangladesh. Tendulkar was already into his fifteenth year in International cricket, and a giant of the game. In this interview, Tendulkar speaks about what made Dhoni great.

Sachin Tendulkar with MS Dhoni. File image.(Reuters)

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Edited excerpts:

On first seeing Dhoni

I first saw him on the tour of Bangladesh. Sourav (Ganguly) and I had heard that he could hit the ball well. But could he do that in international cricket? That was our question. On that tour, he didn’t score too many runs, but in the couple of shots he hit, including one boundary he hit to long-off, Dada and I thought that we have spotted something special. I told him, “Dada, this guy has got the gift of hitting the ball hard”.

My first observation was: he has a very strong bat swing and during the impact the transfer of weight is really good; he will be able to generate great power.

Power comes from the transfer of weight, the core strength. Lots of people say power comes from the bat swing—and yes, bat swing has to be good, but the lower body has to be strong to generate power. Dhoni had a firm base and having that was the foundation. That stability while you are attacking brings in a lot of power.

When you have a hard-hitting player like him, the sound from the bat is different. I go a lot by that sound. I heard that sound and told Dada, this is different. I head the same thing when Yuvraj (Singh) batted.

On the 2011 WORLD CUP

I saw him grow as a youngster in the team, who climbed a number of mountains and made a huge mark in Indian cricket. He went from strength to strength. The strength that he possessed was calmness. He could keep his cool and soak in the pressure. He has a very active mind, he was a good reader of the game.

In each generation in Indian cricket, the leading players have contributed in their own style, their own manner and inspired a generation. That is where Dhoni fits in without any doubt.

He played many cracker innings. Early on when he got into the team, there was a lot of aggression and then slowly, as the balance of the team changed, he played with controlled-aggression. Each stage of your innings you play different roles and he played them beautifully.

On his best cricket under Dhoni

That partnership (Dhoni as captain, Gary Kirsten as coach) really clicked well. We were the No.1 Test team and we won the World Cup. We had almost the same guys—the ones who played the 2007 World Cup and the 2011 World Cup—with just one or two changes. I really enjoyed that period. (2008 to 2011 was Tendulkar’s most productive period since 2000).

My intention was to win matches for India, and I would do everything possible within my capability to win that game. As and when I felt I could give him my inputs and contribute I did. Eventually, the captain has to take the call. We all took ownership of our roles and it becomes our responsibility to share our experience, to say “this what we feel”, and then let him pick and choose. Our gameplan was always to provide Dhoni multiple choices. With so many things happening on the field, everyone tries to take the pressure off the captain, and that’s what I tried to do.