‘And some of them like the Shisha and that’s their way of…’ : Michael Hussey on the relaxed team atmosphere in CSK built by former skipper MS Dhoni

While Dhoni has played in 278 IPL matches in IPL since its maiden edition in 2008 amassing 5,439 runs and more than 200 dismissals donning the wicket-keeper role in the league, the wicket-keeper batsman was retained as uncapped player prior to last IPL mega auction. Hussey, who first played for CK in 2008 and later had multiple stints with the team, has been working with the team as the batting coach and spoke about how Doni sees the game ‘differently’. “He is a special guy. He sees the game differently to most and that’s what I love about him where I sort of see the game and I think yeah I know this is how it should be played or this is what we should be doing in the situation. He would almost like to go to a 180 degree view and try to see it differently. But I think his greatest strength, particularly in a place like India , there’s so many players, you know, and there’s so much pressure and stress and you can see these young Indian guys, they want it so bad, they’re trying so hard. There’s so much pressure on their place in the team. There’s a billion people watching them, huge crowds. And Dhoni’s got this beautiful way of just being able to take the pressure off them,” Hussey said.

The former Australian cricketer talked about how Dhoni calmed the nerves of youngsters in the CSK team during a match against RCB and how the trait remains Dhoni’s biggest strength. “I’ll give you an example. Well, we were playing this game, Chennai Super Kings versus the Royal Challenges Bangalore, a big rival. It’s at our place, the crowd is pumping, you know, I remember standing in there, I was still playing and in the huddle, and Dhoni, he could see these young Indians walk and nervous as anything, a massive game. And he goes, “Boys, it doesn’t matter if we win or lose today. Just go and enjoy it. Smile to the crowd,’s try and execute your skills. But the most important thing is, I want to win the Fair Play Award this year. So if you get a wicket and the umpire gives it not out, don’t argue with the umpire. Just, get on with the next ball. Just go and relax, and you know that’s the way the game goes. And I remember thinking, what the heck are you talking about? If you get Chris Gayle out for a duck, hit the shirt off and make bloody swinging around. And I remember thinking, “What the heck’s this guy talking about?” But it wasn’t till later that I realised that he was just trying to take the pressure off young Indian players. Just go and play. Some days you win, some days you lose, just try and execute your skills, and just do the best you can. And you could almost see the stress coming out of these Indian players particularly when it was such a big game, you know. So I think that’s his greatest strength,” said Hussey.

When asked about Dhoni practising wicket-keeping, the coach shared how he has never seen Dhoni practising catching a ball. “I’ve been a player at Chennai for 8 years, and now coach for about 8 years. I think the only time I’ve seen him catch a ball was when we wanted to knock in a new pair of gloves. I’ve never seen him practice his keeping ever, but he bats a long long time. He hits thousands and thousands of balls,” said Hussey.