Gqeberha – Gqeberha – Inspiration, selflessness and inclusivity are among the many things the South African cricket community could learn from the way MS Dhoni and the Chennai Super Kings have operated on their way to a fifth Indian Premier League title.
It was a fairytale ending the season on Monday night when Dhoni led his troops to a fifth IPL title at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
One of the key areas in Dhoni’s leadership was again out in the open for everyone to see for themselves in the final against David Miller’s Gujarat Titans.
When his team was lifting the trophy in celebration, Dhoni stood back to appreciate the smiles on his teammates’ faces, as though it gave him more satisfaction seeing them lift the trophy instead of himself as captain of the team.
Throughout the season, Dhoni gave many players, including SA’s Sisanda Magala, opportunities to play and then gave them the backing that they could get the job done.
It is this mentality and leadership style that SA cricket needs in order to inspire young boys and girls to take up the sport. SA cricket needs another hero for it to reach new heights.
“There’s a certain kind of culture that has been developed in the Chennai Super Kings team to make the players and management feel like this is a family and not work,” former Proteas and Royal Challengers Bangalore performance analyst, Prasanna Agoram told Sport.
We are not crying, you are 🥹
The Legend continues to grow 🫡#TATAIPL | #Final | #CSKvGT | @msdhoni | @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/650x9lr2vH
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 30, 2023
“When you are running an organisation or a sports team, there is a kind of culture that should influence each and every person involved in it,” he added.
The inaugural edition of the SA20 revamped the love and passion for the sport in the country but there is certainly, and understandably, room for improvement.
The competitiveness of every team in the IPL is something to be admired and every country should work towards.
“When it comes to the IPL, every team can be beaten. You can’t say this team is favourite to beat the other team. You can never say this team is weak,” said Agoram.
“But the fact of the matter is that in the 16 seasons of the IPL, two teams have won the title 10 times. CSK has won it fives time and Mumbai Indians have won it five times.
“Eight teams have been fighting for six titles in 16 years, so you can imagine there’s something different about these two teams that make them so successful,” he added.
𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙖𝙞 𝘽𝙤𝙮𝙨
𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙞𝙨𝙚
𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙤! 🥳🥳#CHAMPION5 #WhistlePodu #Yellove 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/yw9sv30xLz— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) May 29, 2023
When Ravindra Jadeja hit the winnings runs on Monday, the Narendra Modi Stadium was at its loudest despite having to wait out many hours on reserve day due to a wet outfield.
But it was Dhoni who took the spotlight despite his many efforts to stay away from it throughout the season.
“Dhoni is the guy if you see, he’s hardly batted 60 deliveries in the whole tournament. But he is there to marshal the troops and to make sure everyone is happy off the field and all their needs are taken care of in order to allow them to focus on the job at hand,” said Agoram.
“That is a culture that you don’t see as much in South Africa. The people in charge are in a closed system where they don’t know much what is happening in the world to evolve things around them. The people in charge are all in this one small circle,” he concluded.
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