Zaheer is one of the few players who played under both of them.
Zaheer Khan is one of the few players who has been fortunate enough to play under MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly, two of India’s most successful captains. As the lockdown got extended, Zaheer joined hands with the sports show host, Gaurav Kapoor as the latter hosted the former Indian pacer on his Youtube show, Isolation Premier League.
During this show, Zaheer answered a lot of questions related to his career. Kapoor asked him about his experience of playing under Ganguly and MS Dhoni. The left-arm pacer gave an appropriate answer comparing the captaincy of both the legendary players.
MS Dhoni did similar things as Ganguly, says Zaheer Khan
During the interaction, Zaheer Khan revealed that Sourav Ganguly gave the adequate amount of support that a player needs when they are starting out to play at the international level. “That’s (support from Ganguly) what you need at that stage of your career. When you start at the international level, you need all the support. Then it is up to you as to how you shape up your career. But that initial support is extremely vital,” the left-arm pacer said.
Later on, the former India cricketer talked about MS Dhoni’s captaincy. He said that when Dhoni became the captain many players were already experienced, so he didn’t have to do much more. But, Zaheer also pointed out that when these players started retiring, then the wicketkeeper-batsman started to nurture the next generation of players. The pacer said this is the quality of a leader who wants to take the team forward.
“When MS got the team, there were a lot of experienced players in the side, so he did not have to do too much to get them up to speed. However, once they started retiring, he then had to nurture the young match. He had spent a similar kind of role and done similar things to what Dada (Ganguly) did with the young crop. This is the quality of the leader to take the team forward,” Zaheer added.
Khan also said in the Indian cricket history, each time a new captain comes, he has the responsibility to take the team forward. “In Indian cricket, every decade the captain has passed the baton to the next in line and the person who has taken the baton has led to the team to the next level,” Zaheer further said.
